


The Professor and the Agent

by bafflethemwithbullshit



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Captain Hill - Freeform, Everyone from AoS in in there, Except for Grant Ward, F/F, F/M, HuntingBird, Maria Hill and Melinda May are snarky best friends that would die for each other, Melinda is an FBI agent, Phil is a college professor, Philinda - Freeform, bc fuck Grant Ward, skimmons - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-11
Updated: 2015-09-11
Packaged: 2018-04-20 04:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4773734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bafflethemwithbullshit/pseuds/bafflethemwithbullshit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Phil Coulson meets a stranger on a night out with work friends, a murder and a college could bring these two together in a way they never thought possible. Philinda. Skimmons. Contains all characters of AoS and most Avengers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Chance Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on FF.net last year and I've only just gotten around to it again, but I'm back and I'm inspired. So here we go.

It'd been a long day for Phil Coulson, and the last thing he wanted to do was go out to a bar. Yet here he was, sitting with his work friends in a bar that smelt of peanuts and beer whilst they talk about everything from the weekend's football game to their college students latest antics. Phil sighed under his breath for the seventh time that night as he heard one of them talk about the cheerleaders, before he polished off his beer and stood up "Next round's on me," he announced.

"Thanks, man," one of them, Alphonso 'Mack' MacKensie, replied. He was a big guy, and anyone who looked at him would've thought he was a wrestler or a boxer. But he was smart and taught Engineering at the college.

Nodding in reply, Phil turned around and walked over to the bar, taking a seat as he waited to be served "Scotch on the rocks, thanks," he heard someone say as they sat down a couple stools down from him. He turned to see a woman taking off her leather jacket. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties, Chinese. He saw she was wearing all back, jeans, a v-neck top and wedged ankle boots. Her dark brown hair was down, hanging around her shoulders as she ran a hand through it.

He realized he was staring when the bartender slid the drink over on a napkin before turning to him "What can I get you?" he asked.

Snapping out of his trance, he looked at the man in front of him "Yeah, I'll take 4 beers thanks,"

"No worries," he replied. The more he talked, the more Phil could make out his Australian accent. It was still there, but guessed it'd faded a bit due to living in the States for a while. Turning his head back to the woman a couple seats down from him, he noticed her roll her eyes at her phone before haphazardly putting it on the bar, shaking her head.

"Long day?" he asked her before he could stop himself. She turned her head to face him before scoffing.

"You could say that," she replied. As he saw her whole face, he took the liberty to look at her properly, taking in the sight before him. She was really quite beautiful, and her arms were toned, strong "What about you?" she asked, snapping him out of his gaze.

"What about me?" he asked.

She shrugged before replying "You don't exactly look like you wanna be here,"

Phil smirked at her and tossed a glance to the three others he came here with "I was dragged here,"

"Sounds like fun," she replied sarcastically, making him grin.

"I'm Phil, by the way," he said, holding his hand out for her to take.

"Melinda," she replied, shaking it firmly. Before either of them could say another word, the phone she had previously thrown onto the bar started ringing. Sighing slightly, she looked at him apologetically "I have to take this,"

"Sure, go ahead," he smiled, which she returned slightly before standing up an walking outside. The bartender slid the four beers he ordered in front of him, and Phil paid for them, tipping him in the process "Thanks, man," he nodded to him.

A second later, Melinda came back into the bar, and picked up her jacket from the stool before seeing he was still standing there "I gotta go," she said "But it was really nice meeting you, Phil,"

Smiling in return, he replied "Yeah, you too,"

"I'll see you 'round," she said with a smile before she started to walk out the bar.

 _Hopefully_ , he thought to himself before strategically picking up the four beers and carrying them back to the table.

"Yo, Coulson," one of them, Mike Peterson, smirked at him "Who's the girl?"

* * *

It was 10 o'clock by the time he got home, and he was exhausted. As he stepped through the front door of his apartment, he saw the living room light on and walked towards it. Rounding the corner, he found a figure curled up on the couch with a tub of ice cream as they watched a movie.

"Hey, Skye," he greeted and took his suit jacket and tie off, throwing it on the back of a chair as he walked towards the teenager on the couch.

"Hey, Dad," she replied, looking up at him as he plopped down on the couch next to her. She shifted in her position so that she was sitting with her back against the arm rest and her feet were in his lap "How was work?" she asked, taking a spoonful of salted caramel ice cream into her mouth.

"Oh, you know, the usual," he replied with a sigh "Classes, staff meetings and a bar," Skye narrowed her eyes at him and leaned forward slightly "What?"

"You met someone," she blurted out, her eyes still narrowed, trying to read his face.

"Wha-I-no I didn't-" he stuttered and she burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, you did!" she replied, smiling from ear to ear and putting the tub of ice cream on the coffee table "What's her name?"

Phil rolled his eyes and shook his head "You're insane,"

"No, no, usually you make some lame comment about it being a lame bar that your friends dragged you out to for a lame night," she explained "But not this time, which means it wasn't as bad a night as it usually is,"

"Why does that mean I met someone?" he asked.

Skye shrugged "Because I know your 'it was a fun night' face and this is _not_ it," she replied "Which means the night itself wasn't fun but something happened, so tell me, what's her name?"

Phil sighed before shooting a look at his daughter "Melinda,"

"Melinda...?"

"That's all I know," he said before she could say anything else.

"Okay," she replied before grabbing the ice cream again and smirking "So is she hot?"

Phil looked at her incredulously before chuckling and shaking his head at her "Yes, she is very attractive," he replied "And no, I didn't get her number," he said when he saw her open her mouth.

"What?!" she sat up straight and punched him in the arm, eliciting a yelp from her father "You didn't get her number?! What were you thinking?!"

Rubbing his arm, he shrugged "She was in a hurry,"

Rolling her eyes, Skye passed over the ice cream with the spoon sticking out of it "Here. You need this," she grumbled.

He took the tub from her and saw her fold her arms "What's wrong?" he asked "Why's this bothering you so much?"

"Dad, when was the last time you got laid?" she asked, making him choke on the ice cream in his mouth "Because you haven't dated anyone since Audrey and that was a while ago,"

"It wasn't that lon-"

"It was two years ago," she deadpanned him "I'm serious, you need to get out more, you need to be happy,"

"I am happy," he replied, taking another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth "You're all I need,"

"That's sweet, really. But you need someone else in your life," she said "You need someone who you can vent to when I've done something, and you need someone other than me, because you bitching to me about me isn't really gonna work, is it?"

"Skye, you don't have to worry about me," he said, grabbing her hand "I'm fine,"

Sighing, she rolled her eyes at him "Just promise me you'll try to get out there?"

"I promise," he replied, pulling her closer and placing a kiss in the top of her head.

"Good."

* * *

The next day, when he walked onto the Columbia University campus, all hell had broke loose. Students were crying and there were people running around everywhere, trying to keep the students in order. As he walked up to Mack, who was standing with Mike and Billy Koenig in confusion, he asked "What the hell's going on?"

"You haven't heard?" asked Billy, frowning.

Phil shook his head as Mack lowered his voice "A student was found dead in his dorm last night,"

"Oh, God," Phil replied, his eyes widening "Who?"

"I never met the kid, but apparently he was one of the smartest kids here," Mike said "Donnie Gill, did you know him?"

Phil nodded and sighed "Yeah, he was in my Crim101 class, he was friends with my daughter, too,"

"Damn," Mack said and patted him lightly on the back "Sorry, man,"

Phil nodded and gave him a weak smile "I'm gonna go check on my class, I'll catch up with you guys later,"

He walked through the corridors of crying students, and made his way to his class, where he knew some of his students would be. As he entered the classroom, he saw 90% of his class in there, they were all quiet and red-eyed. They were all sitting on their own, some in small groups of comfort. He saw extra faces among the students and there was no doubt that his students told them that his classroom was a safe place to go. He'd always prided himself on that.

"Hey," he said softly as he set his laptop bag on the desk and rounded it to lean on it "I just heard the news," They were all silent, with the occasional sniffles and whimpers, but they listened to him, they always did. "I am so sorry," he said, trying not to let him emotions lace through his voice, but failing miserably as it cracked. "And I don't know what I can say or do to make this better, to make you all feel better,"

He scanned the faces of the room and made eye contact with each and every one of them before saying "You're all safe here. And you can stay as long as you need," he nodded to them "I'll be here if you need to talk,"

One of his students ran up to him and crashed into him in a hug, sobbing. He didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around the girl. She was one of Donnie's closest friends. He didn't have many, but he didn't need them when he had the few he did, including his daughter "You're okay, Jemma," he soothed "It's okay," he rubbed circles on her back as the majority of the students let it go too.

They didn't normally hug each other, but this was something they needed, him included. He managed to hold back the tears that had started to burn his eyes, he needed to be strong for his students, and breaking down on them wouldn't help any of them.

A knock at the door caught all their attention and Jemma pulled away, wiping the tears furiously from her eyes. He didn't let go of her arms, but turned towards the door "Phil," the headmaster, Nick Fury, said "The police are here, they wanna ask you some questions," he said solemnly. Fury had known Donnie Gill, too, and this was a trying time for them all.

Phil nodded at him before turning back to Jemma "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm alright now, thank you," she replied, her English accent thick "I'm sorry for breaking down on you like that,"

"Hey, it's no problem," he smiled at her "We both needed that, I think," Jemma was one of his brightest students, one of the youngest too, 17. She and along with Leo Fitz. They had been slow friends when they came to Columbia. They were always fighting, competing with each other, until they worked together. Now they were practically inseparable, so much so that everyone just referred to them as FitzSimmons - like they were a single body.

Skye came to the university so often that she had a lot of firneds here. But the closest friends she had were FitzSimmons, and then later Donnie, when he came along.

As he left Jemma and walked outside his classroom, to see a woman exchange a few words with Fury before he walked off and he approached her "Phil Coulson," he introduced himself.

"Special Agent Maria Hill, FBI," she replied, shaking his hand "I'm sorry for your loss," she said and he could see the sincerity in her eyes.

"Thank you, Agent Hill," he nodded "Donnie was a good kid and a brilliant student," he explained to her "He'll definitely be missed around here,"

Nodding in empathy, Hill gestured to the seat against the wall, causing them both to sit down "Was Donnie having any trouble lately? Friends? Family?"

"Not that I know of," Phil replied, shaking his head "He was always quiet, and he had trouble communicating with people," he explained "But he was always kind and always looked out for others,"

"Can you think of anyone who would wanna hurt him?"

"Oh, God, no," he replied "He didn't have many friends, but he didn't have any enemies either. If there's one thing you learn about college students is that the more friends you have, the more enemies you have. Donnie didn't need many friends, because he had good friends, real friends,"

She nodded again "Can you give me some names?"

"Of friends?" he asked, earning a nod in return "Yeah, uh, Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, and...well...my daughter Skye," he said as she wrote it all down on a notepad.

"Your daughter's a student here?" Hill asked.

Phil shook his head "No, she's a senior at Blakeview High," he explained "But she visits as often as she can, and apparently made friends,"

"That's teenagers for you," Hill replied, smirking slightly, before turning back to him "Have you noticed any strange behavior lately?"

"Strange behavior?"

"Was he acting paranoid? Jumpy?"

"No, if he did, I didn't notice," he replied, frowning "Do you think someone on campus did this?"

"It's highly possible," she replied and stood up, Phil following suit "Thank you for your time, Professor,"

"Anytime," he replied, nodding "Just..." he trailed off before speaking again "Catch the guy?"

Hill nodded "We'll do everything we can,"

As she bid goodbye, she walked around the corner and he walked back towards his classroom.

"Phil?"

The voice stopped him in his tracks and he spun around to see the woman from the bar, dressed in the same type of clothes but different. This time she had a gun on her hip and a badge on the other. She had another leather jacket on but her jeans were a dark navy denim and she had black aviators tucked in the 'V' of her shirt.

"Melinda," he replied, giving her a smile.

"You're Professor Coulson?" she asked, frowning in amusement.

"Yeah," he replied "You're with Agent Hill," he said, coming to the realization, earning a nod in return.

"I heard Donnie was one of your best students," she said "I'm sorry,"

"Thank you," he replied, gratefully "Today's gonna be rough,"

"It's never easy," she said and seeing his quizzical expression, she elaborated "Losing someone," he didn't say anything in return, not trusting his voice, so he just nodded "Anyway, if you think of anything that might help..." she said reaching into her pocket and pulling out a business card and handing it to him "Give me a call," she said and started to walk away.

"And if I don't think of anything?" he called after her, making her turn around to look at him questioningly "Can I still call you?"

Smirking slightly, she nodded "Yeah," she replied "You can still call me,"

And with that, she was out of sight, leaving him to look like an idiot, grinning in the hallway.


	2. Grief and Trust

The day had been long. Again. Understandably. Once he'd returned to his classroom, they all sat on the floor, just talking to one another. Some of the students kept quiet, not really knowing Donnie, but others had plenty to say about him. They'd ended up sharing stories and laughing about what they did together.

FitzSimmons shared to most stories, obviously being closer to him than anyone else, they made people laugh, brightened their day a little. They made sure that the memory of Donnie Gill wasn't that he was a loner who didn't have many friends.

When he was packing up to leave, he saw Jemma come up to him "Professor Coulson?" she asked and he looked up, giving her a smile "Does Skye know?"

Phil nodded "Yeah, she does," Jemma nodded and hesitated momentarily "Jemma, what is it?" he asked softly, worried.

She tucked her hair behind her ear and tightened her grip on her bag before asking "Do you mind if I see her tonight? I mean, I love Fitz and all bit he's not he and he doesn't deal with human emotion properly," she started to ramble "I don't mean he doesn't feel anything because obviously he's as destroyed as the rest of us, but-"

"Jemma," he cut her of quietly "I think it'd be a good idea if she saw you tonight,"

Jemma nodded "Thank you," she replied and looked at her watch "I have to go finish a paper now, but tell Skye I'll call her when I'm on my way,"

"Of course," Phil smiled, glad that his daughter has a friend like her. As Jemma walked away, he made his way over to Lola, his red 62' Chevy Corvette, which was sitting in his reserved parking space. Sitting inside, he pulled the business card from his pocket and read the printed writing.

_Supervisory Special Agent Melinda May_  
_Criminal Investigative Division_  
_26 Federal Plaza, 23rd Floor_  
_New York, NY_  
_(917)494-4476_

Melinda May. So that's her name.

Phil smirked at the card and put it back into his pocket before pulling out of the university parking lot and driving back to his apartment. As he stepped inside, he found his daughter in the same position he found her in the previous night, only she was asleep and surrounded by tissues.

The sight broke his heart. No parent ever wants to see their child in pain. So, taking off his jacket and tie again, he lifted her up into his arms and carried her upstairs to her bedroom. When he looked at the clock on her bedside dresser, he saw it was 5:18. Knowing Jemma, she wouldn't be around until later, and Skye would most likely be awake by the time she gets here.

He pulled the cover over her shoulders and kissed her forehead, before closing the door quietly behind him. He walked back downstairs to grab a beer out of the fridge and sat down on the couch for a while. The next time he looked at the time it was 6:30 and he hadn't moved a muscle. He hadn't realized he'd been sitting there that long until Skye came and sat down next to him, curling up in his side. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in close to him, kissing her temple "You okay, kid?" he asked.

She nodded slightly before speaking weakly "I just can't believe he's gone,"

"I know, sweetie," he whispered into her hair.

"Who would do something like this?" she whispered back and he felt hot tears fall onto his shirt, making him hold her tighter.

"I don't know," he replied "I really don't,"

They sat in silence for a while, and Phil thought she had dozed off again until she spoke "I miss him, Dad,"

Phil couldn't stop the tears from fall anymore as he just held her in silence. Hearing how broken his daughter was had just pushed him over the edge. He could tell she felt them drip into her hair, but frankly, she couldn't give a shit.

"I love you so much," he whispered to her, his own voice broken with tears "I love you," he repeated.

"I know," she replied, clutching the arm that had come to wrap around under her chin, his hand clinging to her shoulder "I love you too,"

* * *

The next hour or so, they'd just sat there, not moving. Just assuring each other that the other was there. The only thing that pulled them apart was a knock at the door, and they knew Jemma was here. Skye slowly stood up, when Phil had reluctantly let go. Skye opened the door and immediately pulled the other girl in for a hug, the both of them just taking comfort in each others presence, not saying anything.

As they finally broke away and Skye ushered Jemma inside, Phil greeted her with a sad smile "Hey, Jemma,"

"Hi, Professor Coulson," Jemma replied with a small wave.

He stood up from the couch and started to walk past them to the kitchen "Have you eaten yet? Because we haven't,"

"Uh, no, I haven't," she replied "I came straight from the library,"

"Did you finish your paper?" Phil asked her as he grabbed some glasses out of the cupboard and pouring them a coke each.

Jemma shook her head and looked almost guilty "I couldn't concentrate,"

Phil nodded and watched as his daughter grabbed her hand in support "It's okay," he assured her "I'm sure Doctor Weaver won't mind,"

Jemma nodded as she looked down at her feet "Hey," Skye said to her, making her look up "It'll be fine, everyone'll get an extension," she assured her with a smile "And aren't you like three weeks early anyway?"

"Maybe," Jemma replied sheepishly, looking back down again.

"Of course you are," Skye teased "Because Jemma Simmons can't just have her work handed in on time, it has to be in before the professor's even given it out,"

"Oh, ha ha," Jemma replied, bumping her shoulder into Skye's.

Phil smiled at their banter, knowing that in time they'd be okay, and maybe one day they'd stop dancing around each other "So what do you two want for dinner?" he asked them as they sat down at the kitchen counter "Pizza?"

"Pizza's good," Skye replied.

"Pizza sounds lovely," Jemma said in her usual British manner "Thank you,"

"No problem," he replied "I'll order us some pizzas and some sodas and we can sit in front of the TV and watch one of your girl movies," he said, only to have both teenagers in front of him respond at the same time.

"Girl movies-?"

"Excuse me, but what classifies as a 'Girl Movie'-?"

"Just because girls have a better understanding to other girls, doesn't mean guys can't watch them-"

"That's actually quite offensive because girls can just as easily fight and drive fast sports cars as boys-"

"ALRIGHT I'M SORRY!" he yelled, cutting them both off "We can watch a _movie_ , then,"

"Much better," Skye replied triumphantly and he rolled his eyes, walking away to grab his phone and order their food.

"Are you okay?" Jemma asked after a moment of silence.

Skye shrugged "I guess," she replied "You?"

"For now," Jemma replied with a nod "So what movie should we watch?"

"I'm thinking _The Heat_ ," Skye replied with a mischievous grin on her face "Show Dad what a 'girl movie' is,"

Jemma laughed and shook her head as Phil walked back in "Pizza coming right up," he said "Should be here in 20 minutes,"

"Good old New York, where there's a Pizza joint on every corner," Skye quipped.

"Which is lucky, actually," Jemma said "Back in London, there's probably one in every suburb,"

"That sucks," Skye said.

"And I didn't even know what pancakes were until I moved into my dorm and my roommate made them for breakfast one morning when she was drunk," she explained, making both Coulson's laugh.

For the next 20 minutes, they talked about school and how everything was going. Skye talked about her teacher and her school work, saying how hard Senior Year was, only to have Jemma reassure her that there's only a few months left, being October and everything. Jemma talked about a project she was working on in her BioChem class, whilst Phil talked about the gossip in the teachers lounge.

"Who was that woman you were talking to today?" Jemma asked him, making his eyes widen partially "I didn't recognize her,"

"What woman?" Skye asked, smiling.

"Uh, no one," Phil replied, looking away from their gazes.

Skye rolled her eyes and ignored her father, turning to her friend "What did she look like? Was she hot?"

"I must admit, she was very beautiful," Jemma said, making Skye squeal "She looked about 30 or so-"

"Okay!" Phil cut her off "Her name's Melinda,"

"Wait... _the_ Melinda?" Skye asked.

"What Melinda?" Jemma asked them both.

"He met a woman at a bar last night and her name was Melinda," Skye explained before looking back at her father "Please tell me it's the same Melinda,"

"Yes, it's the same Melinda," he said, pulling her card out of his pants pocket and handing it over to her.

Skye took the card and read it before her eyes went wide "She's FBI?!" she asked "That is so badass!" Phil rolled his eyes as his daughter read out the name on the card "Supervisory Special Agent Melinda May, Jesus, even her _name_ sounds badass,"

"So are you going to call her?" Jemma asked, just as excited as Skye.

"Maybe," Definitely. But he wasn't going to tell them that.

"Maybe?" asked Skye incredulously "Maybe?! You've got the number of a hot, badass FBI agent in your pocket and you're maybe gonna call her?!"

Before any of them could answer, the buzzer for the door sounded and Phil went to the intercom to buzz them up. A couple of minutes later, there was a knock at the front door and Phil let him in, paying for the pizza and tipping the delivery guy. Walking back in with the pizza, garlic bread and sodas, they set down in front of the TV.

"So what movie are we watching?" Phil asked as he opened the pizza box and grabbed a slice.

"Only the most badass movie in existence," Skye said as she popped in the disk.

Seeing the opening credits, Phil chuckled "Whatever you say, Princess," he said, earning a glare "Princess Badass?"

"Better," she smiled at him as they all sat on the floor around the coffee table.

"Do we need glasses?" Phil asked, but before anyone could answer Skye had opened the first bottle and taken a swig "Never mind," he mumbled as Jemma giggled.

* * *

The movie was a great distraction from them all. They laughed the whole time and the pizza was gone in a matter of 10 minutes before Phil quickly ran to grab a whole lot of junk food from the kitchen, trying not to miss the movie.

After the first movie had finished, Skye had put in another, and another, and now they were on their fourth movie and it was the early hours of the next morning. Phil had dozed off a couple of times, but when he awoke, he saw the two girls curled up together under a blanket they had pulled from the couch. It didn't look comfortable, but apparently, being a teenager meant every position was comfortable.

He let the movie play for a few minutes as he reveled in the sight of the two girls sleeping peacefully, like the day hadn't happened, like they were still just two girls who secretly had a crush on each other. He smiled at the thought. Skye had never come out to him, she didn't need to, but one day she would, and it would be important to her that he'd accept her. Which he would, with open arms and a huge smile. He'd always known she was bisexual, and after her last dickhead of a boyfriend, he was glad that she could turn to a much gentler person for comfort. Jemma Simmons. It could be weird for them, considering Jemma still calls him Professor Coulson outside of class, but he couldn't think of a better person to date his daughter.

A slight groan pulled him from his thoughts as Skye nuzzled closer into her best friend, but neither of them woke. She was exhausted, they all were. After a moment he finally stood up and turned off the television, then bent down to kiss both girls on the forehead, before he made his way up the stairs and to his bed.

* * *

When Skye awoke the next morning, it took her a moment to realize where she was. In her own home, obviously, but she wasn't in her bed, and she wasn't alone either. She didn't have to look at them to know who it was; a British genius who stole her affection the day they met. At first it wasn't romantic feelings, just platonic. Like she'd just found the best friend she ever will. But then they grew closer and Skye tried her best to deny it, she couldn't risk losing their friendship over a stupid crush.

Slowly moving out of her arms, she looked down at her friend. She was sleeping soundly, her breath soft. She was peaceful, and Skye was glad that it was a Saturday, so she didn't have to wake her for class. Looking up at the clock, she saw it was 10:42. Still morning.

Knowing Jemma would probably wake up soon, she decided to put the kettle on to make her a cup of tea whist she made herself a hot chocolate. Skye learnt within the first week of meeting Jemma that she hated coffee, and much preferred tea. As their friendship grew, Skye knew just how she liked it, and knew exactly how to make it. She, herself, couldn't drink either. They were both too bitter, no matter how much sugar she put in there. After a few minutes, she had both drinks ready and she made her way back to the lounge room.

Just as she sat down, Jemma began to stir. Perfect timing, Skye thought to herself with a smirk as she lifted the tea up under the girl's nose. Fluttering her eyes open, it took Jemma a few moments to register what was happening, before she happily took the mug from Skye's hands.

"Morning," Skye said quietly as she took a sip of her hot chocolate.

"Good morning," Jemma replied, sitting up straighter and took a rather large sip of the hot drink, making her wince at the heat and Skye chuckle.

"You do that every time," she reminded her, earning a hum in response. The two sat in silence for a moment, just enjoying each other's company, not really feeling a need to talk, and Skye rested her head on Jemma's shoulder.


	3. Science and Blackmail

Melinda was going over the case in the conference when a knock at the door made her look up from her seat. Maria walked in and sat down across from her, putting a file down on the table and sliding it across "Donnie's financial's came up clean," she said "But I looked at his phone records and found a number that called him every week, each call lasting less than a minute,"

"Were you able to get a trace on it?" Melinda asked her, opening the file and looking through it herself, seeing the highlighted calls.

Maria shook her head and leaned back in her seat, looking at their case on the glass board next to the table "No, it's a burner, Trip and Hunter are going to every prepaid dealer within a five mile radius, hopefully something pops up,"

"That could take hours," Melinda frowned, looking up at her "Can't we identify a serial number or anything?"

"Doesn't work like that," Maria said, leaning forward on her elbows "Prepaid cells are designed to be anonymous, that's why they're prepaid, there's no bills sent, there's no need for a name or identification because the dealer's already got the money in hand, they don't care what people do with the phone, as long as they sell," she sighed "And unfortunately, they do,"

Melinda sighed and shook her head "Okay, were looking at this wrong, we're not gonna get a name by scouring the streets, so let's take another approach," she said and stood up, starting to pace the length of the table slowly, thinking "Calls that last less than a minute, made from a burner cell, what does that suggest?" she asked, Maria shook her head, not knowing "Well the calls were all one-sided,"

"Blackmail," Maria caught on, sitting up straighter "You think he was being blackmailed,"

"Think about it," Melinda said as she stopped walking "Someone calls you, they tell you they know what you've done or whatever and then they say that you need to pay up or else," she explained "Then, bang, end of call,"

Maria rose from her seat and stood next to her in front of the board "And the next calls gave him instructions, a drop place, a bank account in the Cayman Islands, a bin to put it under..."

"Exactly,"

"But like I said," Maria shook her head "His financials were clean. There were no transfers, no withdrawls and no out of place purchases anywhere,"

Melinda thought for a moment before responding "So he wasn't being blackmailed with money, but something else,"

"Coulson said that he was a brilliant student, he was one of the smartest ones there, double majoring in Astrophysics and Engineering," Maria explained "Maybe it was academic,"

"Like a paper?" Melinda raised an eyebrow at her.

Maria shrugged "Could be, college students are under a lot of stress," she said "Or it could be something bigger, something he discovered and shared with someone else, not knowing what to do with it,"

Melinda nodded and sighed "Alright, if this is what got Donnie killed, then we find out what he was working on, who he told and we find our killer," she said and grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair before putting it on "I'll take a trip to the college, see if his friends knew anything about a project he'd been working on," Maria nodded and watched as she walked out the door, grabbing her keys, badge and gun from her desk on the way out of the bullpen.

Making her way down to the black bureau issued Chevy Camaro, she pulled out her phone and held it up to her ear as she called the person she needed "Trip," she greeted "Hill and I have a theory," she said, stepping out of the elevator and making her way to the car, unclocking it when it was in view.

_"Yeah? What's that?"_

"Blackmail,"

_"Blackmail? By who?"_

"That's what we're tryin' to find out," she said, opening the car door and getting inside "I'm heading over to the university now, I'll let you know if I find anything,"

_"Yeah, likewise,"_

And with that, they both hung up.

The twenty-five minute drive was faster than usual, due to the fact she was driving way too fast. Pulling up out the front of the main building of the university, she made her way to the dorms, going off the names Maria had given her. Considering it was a Saturday, no one had classes, especially after yesterday.

As she found the dorm she wanted, she knocked twice on the door. When it opened, a teenager with sandy blonde, curly hair and puffy red eyes opened the door "Leo Fitz?" she asked softly.

"Yes?" he replied, his Scottish accent clear in the syllable.

Pulling out her badge, she flashed it to him "I'm SSA May, FBI," she said. She held it up for him to glance at it and then put it away again "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about Donnie?"

The boy nodded before stepping aside and letting her in is dorm. The dorm was clean, the the exception of the unmade bed and a bin full of tissues. Fitz gestured to the chair that sat at the end of the bed, and sat down cross legged on his bed "What would you like to know, Agent May?" he asked.

Sitting down, she leaned forward on her elbows "You were close with Donnie?" she asked, earning a nod in return "Did he tell you about any problems he may have been having?"

"Like what?"

"Was someone harrassing him? Someone who didn't like him?" she asked cautiously.

Fitz shook his head "Everyone liked Donnie," he replied "I mean, he didn't have a lot of friends, but no one had a problem with him,"

Melinda nodded before asking "Do you know if he was working on anything? A project or a thesis?"

Fitz thought for a second before nodding "Yeah, he was working off the basis that if you use hydroxide and monoxide to power a fully turbined-"

"I majored in Criminalistics," she cut him off, not knowing a word he was saying, making him smile slightly.

"About a year ago I built an Atmospheric Moisture Freezing Device," he explained "It could turn all moisture around it into ice. I think Donnie was trying to recreate it in his own way,"

"Did he tell anyone about this?" Melinda asked.

Fitz shook his head before shrugging "I don't know," he replied "I found some plans for it and I think he was having problems with the power, but he didn't come to me for help, which he usually does,"

Melinda nodded "Is there anyone else you think Donnie would feel comfortable asking to help with the problem?"

"Jemma, but she's BioChem and wouldn't do much good," he replied "So no,"

Melinda nodded and put her notepad away "I'm sorry for your loss," she said softly.

Fitz nodded "Thank you,"

She patted his knee before sanding up "Thank you for your time,"

"Anything I can do to help," Fitz replied, earning a grateful smile in return before headed for the door "Agent May?" he stopped her, making her turn back to face him "He was also in Professor Coulson's class, if anyone around here needed to talk to someone, it'd be him,"

Melinda nodded "Thanks, I'll check it out," she replied, earning a nod from Fitz in return, before she left, making her way back down to the car, pulling out her phone in the process "Maria, I need an address,"

* * *

The Saturday morning had been low-key so far, Phil had eventually dragged himself out of bed and made them all French Toast before he went to his office to get some grading done, whilst the girls went up to her room to do God-knows-what.

A knock at the door made him groan until he heard Skye yell out "I got it!" Opening the door, Skye found a woman, dressed in black, aviators in the V of her shirt, black jeans, black boots and a black leather jacket, a gun attatched to her hip "Hey," Skye said, smiling slightly.

"Uh, yeah, I'm SSA Melinda May with the-" before she could finish, Skye's smile grew over her face and she turned around, yelling.

"Dad!" she yelled "Get out here and look presentable! The hot FBI agent is here!" Skye turned back to her and stepped aside "Come on in,"

Melinda reluctantly stepped into the apartment and watched as Phil came running around the corner, barefoot, in jeans and a Captain America shirt. She had to hide the smirk at the sight. It was actually quite adorable.

"Melinda," he said.

"Dad!" Skye all but yelled at her father "I said look presentable, not Fanboy Frankie,"

"What?" Phil asked her in confusion.

Skye rolled her eyes before turning back to Melinda "I'm Skye, by the way," she said "Excuse him, he really does clean up nice once you get rid of the-"

"Skye." Phil said, giving her a look.

Raising her hands in surrender, she took a fews teps back "Fine, I'm going," she said then leaned in close to Phil and whispered harshly "Don't you dare blow this!" and walked off back to Jemma.

They stood in silence for a moment, wondering what just happened, before Melinda broke the silence "Your daughter, I'm guessing?"

Phil chuckled "Yeah, that's Skye, she's a little outgoing,"

"I bet," she smirked and Phil gestured to the couch.

"Uh, can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea?" he asked as she sat down.

"No, thank you," she replied with a small smile "I'm good,"

Nodding, he sat down next to her "So what can I do for you?"

"I just spoke to Leo Fitz," she said "He told me that Donnie was working on some freezing device,"

"Like the one Fitz built last year?" Phil asked, leaning forward on his elbows.

Melinda nodded "He said that if Donnie would talk to anyone about his problems it'd be you,"

Phil gave her a small, sad smile "I guess," he said "But like I told Agent Hill, I didn't know that he had any problems,"

"Fitz said that he was having a power problem with the device, but didn't go to him about it," she explained "Can you think of anyone he would go to?"

"Not really," Phil shook his head, then furrowed his eyesbrows "But I did see him talking to another Astrophysics student the other day, Seth Dormer,"

"Is that unusual?" Melinda asked.

Phil contemplaited it before responding "Yes and no," he said "Yes because they were in the same class, but no because they didn't get along very well," he said, and seeing her quizzical expression, he elaborated "Seth's one of the 'cool' smart kids, Donnie didn't associate with those kinds of people,"

Nodding, Melinda replied "Right,"

"Do you think this device is the reason he was killed?" he asked.

"To be honest, we're not sure yet," she replied "I can't really talk about it, but as soon as we confirm anything, I'll let you know,"

Phil nodded "Thank you,"

"Of course,"

As Melinda stood to leave, Phil followed her to the door, opening it for her. But before she could walk away, he stopped her "Hey, thank you," he said again "For everything,"

"Sure," she replied "Hang in there, it'll be okay,"

* * *

"So, did you ask her out?" Skye asked as the two girls bounded back into the living room.

Phil sighed "No, Skye, I didn't ask her out," he replied.

"What? Why not?" Skye almost whined.

"Because she wasn't here for me, she was here for Donnie," he replied.

"On a Saturday?" Jemma asked, her eyebrows furrowing.

"Yes, on a Saturday," Phil replied "She wanted to know about one of Donnies projects,"

"The Atmospheric Moisture Freezing Device?" Jemma asked, earning a nod in return "He was so close with that,"

"It doesn't amtter what she was here for!" Skye exclaimed "You need to take this opportunity,"

"Not right no-"

"It's been two years, Dad!" Skye responded, getting frustrated before huffing "Just promise me you'll call her when the case is over,"

Phil sighed deeply before responding "I promise,"

* * *

"What'd you find out?" Maria asked as Melinda walked back into the conference room.

Taking off her jacket, Melinda replied "Well, Donnie was working on some freezing device, and apparently he was talking to some kid he wouldn't usually talk to,"

"What's the kid's name?"

"Seth Dormer," she replied "I already checked with campus security, Seth's not there,"

"So where would he go?" Maria asked "What kind of kid was he?"

"Apparently one of the cool kids," she replied "Had lots of friends, no problems, why run now?"

Maria scoffed "Because he killed someone,"

"We don't know that yet," Melinda said "Maybe he's not running from us, what if he's running from someone else?"

"Donnie's killer," said Maria, then sighed, starting to walk out "I'll get a subpoena for Dormer's phone records,"

* * *

"Why are we doing this again?" Jemma whispered as they crept down the stairs and into the basement of the dorm block.

"Because Donnie once told me that he used to come down here," Skye whispered back, shining the flashlight in front of them "There might be something down here,"

"Any what if someone catches us?" Jemma asked, look around paranoid.

"Relax, pretty much no one knows this place exists," she replied "We'll be fine,"

As they reached the bottom step, the found a light switch on the wall. Turning it on, the globes flickered on.

"What the hell is that?" Skye asked.

"You shouldn't be down here," and before either of them could turn around, everything went black.


	4. Mistakes and Psychos

"Alright, it turns out the same burner called Dormer weekly as well," Maria announced as she strode back into the conference room "You were right, he's running from our killer,"

Melinda nodded "So what now?"

Maria sighed before leaning against the table, next to Melinda "We find a mutual connection between Seth and Donnie," she said "Find out who they've both been talking to,"

"And if we can't find anything?" Melinda asked.

"We will," Maria looked over at her, earning a nod in return.

"We found something!" Trip called out as he made his way over to them, through the bullpen "We found something," he repeated once he'd reached them.

"What is it?" asked Melinda as both women stood and faced him.

"Security footage of a convenience store three blocks from the university campus," he said and put the flash drive into the laptop on the table "It was taken the day before the first call was made to Donnie," he pressed play on the recording, showing a guy in his late teens - early twenties purchase a cell from behind the counter "He paid cash so there was no record but look at his sweatshirt,"

"Columbia Engineering," said Maria, reading the blue and white hoodie that was visible on camera.

"Nothing popped up in facial recogition but Hunter's there now showing the photograph around to see i anyone recognizes him," Trip informed them.

"Good."

* * *

"Bloody hell," he muttered as he stepped onto the campus grounds. This was going to be a nightmare, but hopefully the kid was popular, so he didn't have to spend too long asking kids questions.

He walked up to a group who were sitting down on the grass by the main building "Excuse me," he said, his British accent thick "Do you recognize this guy?" he crouched down and held up the photo for them to see. They all looked at the photo before shaking their heads. Hunter sighed before standing up "Alright, thank you," he said and turned away, asking the next people in sight.

He was there for twenty minutes before he found himself at the dorms, knocking on each door, until one opened up "Yes?" Fitz asked.

"Hi, do you recognize him?" Hunter asked, holding the surveillance photo up for him to see.

Fitz looked at the photo for a moment before nodding "Yeah, that looks like Jacob Rosen," he replied.

"Do you know which dorm he's in?" Hunter asked, putting the photo away.

"Yeah, just down the hall," Fitz replied pointing to the left, the opposite direction to where Hunter had come from "12B,"

Nodding, Hunter replied "Alright, thanks," and with that, he continued down the hall until he reached 12B, knocking on it. A few moments later, a guy in dark fitted jeans, a blue Superdry shirt and white Converses answered the door. Remembering the picture, Hunter recognized him as Jacob Rosen.

"Jacob Rosen, FBI," he said, holding up his badge, only to have the door rapid;y closing towards him as Jacob tried to escape back into the apartment. Trapping it with his foot, Hunter managed to kick the door open again and Jacob made his way to the window, but before he could get it open, Hunter pulled him off and slammed him down on his back before drawing his gun "Don't move,"

* * *

Phil was panicking, to say the least, as he checked with campus security to find his daughter or her best friend never checked in.

"Are you sure?" he asked the man at the desk over the phone.

_"I'm sorry Professor Coulson,"_ he replied _"I never saw them come in or out, and they haven't scanned in either,"_

Phil hung up before trying her again, only to get her voicemail. Without hesitation, he grabbed a sweatshirt and ran down, jumping in Lola and speeding down the street as fast as he could. He pulled up to the Federal Plaza and made his way to the 23rd floor, her business card etched into his brain.

Sprinting out of the elevator, he searched frantically but couldn't see her anywhere "Sir? Can I help you?" he spun to see a man in a suit, looking at him concerned.

"Yes, I'm looking for Mel-Agent May," he said, correcting his slip before anyone caught it "I need to speak with her,"

Nodding, the man scanned the room before laying eyes on the conference room "May!" he yelled out, catching her attention. As soon as she saw them, she hung up the phone that was against her ear and started to make her way over to them. The man nodded towards him, letting him know that it was okay for him to do the same.

"Phil, what're you doing here?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"They're missing," he said frantically "I called them, I called campus security and checked but they're not there," he rambled "She said she was gonna help her with a paper but they never made it and I can't reach them and-"

He was cut off when Melinda grabbed his biceps firmly, making him look at her as she said "Phil! Slow down, tell me what happened," she motioned for a desk nearby and he was in such a panic that he missed the plaque with her name on it, claiming that the desk was hers "Start from the beginning,"

Phil nodded before taking a breath "She told me they were going back to the university so Jemma could work on a paper," he started steadily "But when I called her about an hour later, she didn't answer," he said.

"Are you sure she didn't just miss your call?" Melinda asked.

Phil shook his head "No." he said firmly "She always answers. Every single time. Even when she's in class at school, she's gotten after school detentions for it too," he said, making her nod in understanding, encouraging him to continue his story "I called her again, she didn't answer. So I called campus security to check the sign in records against Jemma's swipe card, but they never checked in."

"You know, they are teenagers, maybe they went somewher-"

"No, Melinda, listen to me," he said strongly, cutting her off "Skye's been through a rough life, and we have one rule - that she never lie to me about her whereabouts," he stated "And she never has. Never." he said "And Jemma assured me they were going back to campus, if she lied I would know, she's the worst liar I have ever met,"

Melinda nodded and pulled a notepad out from the top drawer "Alright, what time did they leave your apartment?"

"About 2:30," he said, looking at his watch "That was two hours ago,"

"How do they normally get there?"

"Uh, Jemma has a Prius, it was a gift from her parents," Phil said "Skye's a little older than her but Jemma's always been the responsible one between the two,"

Melinda gave him a slight smile at that before saying "Alright, wait here, I'll be back,"

Phil nodded and she stood up, making her way back to her colleagues in the conference room she was in.

"What's up?" Trip asked gesturing to Phil, who was hanging his head, leaning forward on his elbows as he sat in the chair.

"We've got a situation,"

* * *

"I bought a phone - is that a crime?" Jacob asked as Hunter hurled questions at him.

"No, but murder is," Hunter replied as he leaned back in the chir on the other side of the table, his feet propped up on it.

Jacob's eyes widened as he leaned forward "Woah, woah, woah," he said "Murder?"

"Yeah," Hunter replied, spreading the crime scene photos of Donnie's body across the table, making Jacob look away "Why'd you do it, huh?" he prodded "He didn't pay up so you decided to teach him a lesson - and scare the shit out of your mate, Seth Dormer in the process?"

"What? No! I-"

"What was is Jacob?" Hunter yelled and stood up in front of him "What was so threatening about Donnie?! That he was smarter than you? Had better ideas than you?! So you decided to steal them from him instead?!"

"It wasn't my idea!" Jacob yelled back.

"Then whose was it?" Hunter asked, sitting back down slowly.

Jacob visibly swallowed before saying quietly "Callie Hannigan."

"Why?"

"She heard about what they were doing and thought they could get a lot of money from it, so she tried to get them to agree to a business deal," Jacob said.

"For a freezing thing?"

Jacob scoffed and shook his head "Atmospheric Moisture Freezing Device isn't what they were trying to power,"

Hunter furrowed his eyebrows "Then what were they trying to power?"

* * *

Her head was blurry and throbbing as her eyes fluttered open. She could feel something holding her wrists togtether behind her back as she looked over at Jemma in exactly the same position, only unconscious. She tried to sit up straight but failed as she realized she was handcuffed to a pole behind her.

As she looked around, she saw the staircase they'd come down and figured they were still in the basement of the Tech building. As she looked back across at her friend, she used her knee to nudge her "Jemma," she tried, only for it to come out hoarse. Coughing, she tried again "Jemma," The girl stirred and she saw her eyes open slowly, taking in their surroundings before panicking slightly "Jemma, it's okay," she tried to soothe her as her eyes went wide ans she tried to scramble to her feet, but not getting anywhere due to the handcuffs.

Jemma looked over at Skye, which seemed to calm her a little, but they were still hancuffd and in a basement which no one knew existed, so she was still understandably panicked "What happened?" she asked.

Skye lent back against the pole and shrugged "I don't know, I guess we were knocked out from behind," she said and looked back over at her friend "I should've listened to you," she said quietly "Why didn't I listen to you?"

Jemma gave her a small smile "Because you never do,"

Skye snorted at he before looking around again, capturing sight of the object she'd seen when they'd first come down "Jemma, what's that?"

Jemma studied it as much as she could from her position before her eyes widened "Oh my God," she breathed.

"What?" Skye asked her, fear etching on her features "Jemma?"

"It's a larger version of the Atmospheric Moisture Freezing Device," she said, and Skye could tell she was scared too "This must be what Donnie was working on,"

Skye looked between Jemma and the device and asked "Is it dangerous?"

"A machine this size could be catastrophic," Jemma replied, trying to tug free from her handcuffs, even though she knew she wouldn't get anywhere.

"How so?"

Jemma stopped struggling before turning to look at Skye "When Fitz first created the device he almost froze me solid," she explained "At a scale this large, this device could turn every particle around it into ice, freezing it in place, Fitz would know how far it could freeze but the device doesn't only freeze what's on the ground," she explained.

"You mean it could freeze the _sky_?" she asked, her eyebrows almost hitting her hairline.

"Well, not the sky, per say," Jemma said "But it could create a super storm like nothing the world has ever seen,"

"Oh, God," Skye said and leaned back against the pole again, closing her eyes. Before either of them could say another word, the door opened and they heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Due to the absence of light, they couldn't tell who it was until they stepped under the globe on the ceiling.

"Callie?" Jemma asked "What are you doing?"

Callie looked at them both before answering "About to make a whole lot of money,"

"Callie, I shouldn't have to explain to you the catastrophic effects this machine could create," Jemma replied.

Callie rolled her eyes before sitting in the chair next to the device, studying it with admiration "You should really thank Donnie, he did all the hard work," she smirked.

Skye tugged at the handcuffs a few times before addressing the girl in front of them "You're a psycho,"

Laughing at them, Callie stood again and circled the machine "Callie..." Jemma started "Did you kill Donnie?"

Callie snapped her gaze to Jemma before shrugging "He had his chance, and he blew it," she said, continuing to circle the device in the middle of the room. Jemma's eyes started to burn and she looked up to the ceiling, trying to blink them away "Oh, don't be like that Jemma. He wasn't that important of a person anyway,"

Skye couldn't help but feel the anger rise in her chest as she managed to sit up straighter against the pole "You're not gonna get away with this, you fucking nutjob!"

Callie let out another bark of laughter before zeroing her eyes on Skye "Really? Because, like you said, no one knows this place exists,"

* * *

"Where's the machine now?" Hunter asked the kid handcuffed on the other side of the table.

"I don't know," Jacob replied "I never saw it,"

Before Hunter could ask him again, the door burst open and Melinda burst into the room "Where is it, Rosen?"

"I told you I don't know!" he said in defence as she glared at him, making him cower back in his chair.

"Okay, here's the deal," Melinda said and slid a pd of paper and a pen across the table "I've got two girls missing, and your girlfriend's holding them hostage,"

"She's not my-"

"So you're gonna write down all the places she's mentioned, and anywhere off campus that she spends her time," Melinda said, still glaring at him, daring him to refuse, as Hunter uncuffed him "Tick, tock, Rosen,"

Rosen quickly grabbed the pen and started to write down on the pad, before sliding it back across to her. He'd written three locations down and she ripped the paper off the pad before storming out of the interrogation room and heading towards the bullpen, Hunter in tow.

"We've got three possible locations!" she called out loudly as the whole bullpen crowded around, Phil standing up from the seat he'd been occupying for the last ten minutes.

"We'll split off into groups," Maria started as Melinda passed over the list of locations "Hunter will take point on the cabin, Trip will take a search party for the university campus and May and I will take the Engineering building," she said and the agents started to grab their gear.

As they all split off, Melinda made her way back to her desk, where Phil was standing "I want to come," Phil said as Trip threw a bullet proof vest over to her.

Looking at him, she sighed "I can't allow you to do that,"

"Please, Melinda," he begged "This is my daughter,"

"I know," she said, looking him dead in the eyes "And I know she's everything to you, but I still can't let you come," she said "We don't know what the risk is yet, but I promise you, we'll do everything we can to bring them back safe,"

Phil nodded as watched her attach a gun to her hip before she started to walk off, touching his arm lightly on the way past, as a small reassurance "Be careful," he called out before he knew what he was doing.

She turned around with a small smile on her face "Always am," and with that, he watched her walk away and out of the building with the rest of the agents.


	5. Rescues and Phonecalls

"So what now?" Skye asked as Callie grabbed a drink from the old rusted fridge in the corner of the room "You kill us and turn the world into ice?"

"I wouldn't be _that_ dramatic," said Callie as she rolled her eyes "I'll kill you and then someone _else_ will turn the world into ice,"

"Wow," Skye said sarcastically "How noble of you," Callie sat down across from them, her legs crossed "You seem like someone who likes to plan ahead," she continued "So what're you gonna spend the money on?" Callie raised an eyebrow at her as she took a swig from the beer bottle in her hand "What? You're gonna kill us anyway, I wanna know what for,"

"Okay," Callie nodded and leaned back on her hands, the beer now in the fold of her lap "I'd go to Costa Rica, it'd be nice and sunny there all year long, and the money from this will get me a long way, I'd never have to work a day in my life,"

"Wouldn't you get bored?" Jemma asked her "God knows I would,"

"Yes, but I'm not you Jemma," Callie said "I don't love homework more than life itself," she cracked "But I'd have people waiting on me all day as I lay on the beach, sunbathing, I'd have a Costa Rican boyfriend to keep me company,"

Skye snorted at her "Right,"

Callie glared at her before taking another swig of her beer and saying "You know, I don't have to kill you,"

"Sure you don't," Jemma replied "But you will,"

Callie contemplated it for a moment before shrugging "I guess you have a point,"

"So what are you waiting for?" Skye asked.

* * *

Hunter burst through the door of the cabin, four agents behind him as they swept the house. As they cleared each room, he could hear them call out "Clear!" each time.

"Yeah, all clear in here!" he called out to the rest of the agents and put a finger up to the comm in his ear "She's not here, she's not in the cabin,"

 _"Copy that,"_ he heard Trip reply on the other end.

* * *

"Copy that," Trip lead the search party around the campus, looking for any sign of the three girls; maybe if he found one, he could find the other two.

They'd been through Callie's dorm room - much to her roommate's dismay - and they'd checked the entire building. Storage closets, supply rooms and workshops had all been cleared. If there was somewhere to keep the device, it would have to be isolated, somewhere no one would look.

So he kept searching, hoping they'd come up with something.

* * *

_"Copy that,"_

Melinda and Maria made their way around the Tech block with agents split off to spread out.

"You'd need privacy, right?" Melinda asked.

"If Rosen's right about the machine, then yeah," Maria replied "You wouldn't want people sniffin' aroung your weapon,"

"I don't think it was designed as a weapon," Melinda said, clearing another room before joining Maria back out in the corridor again.

"Yeah, maybe not, but it could definitely be used as one if it ends up in the wrong hands," she replied, kicking open a storage closet and continuing down the corridor, the same way Melinda had.

"Right, anyway," Melinda replied "If you had a giant weapon to hide, where would you hide it?" asked Melinda, clearing yet another closet "Damn, how many supply closets are there?" she muttered, making Maria smirk as they continued on.

"Well, I'd want it to be completely isolated, but I'd also want it close," she replied "Maybe even right under people's noses," At that, Melinda stopped in her tracks, making Maria stop next to her "What? What is it?"

"When was this building built?" asked Melinda.

Maria shrugged "Well, it was founded in the mid-seventeen hundreds I think, why?"

"Well this building doesn't look like it's from the 1700's does it?" Melinda said, gesturing to the glass walls and white laminate.

"Not unless Tom Wright was born in the 1700's," Maria replied, earning a confused look from her partner "You know, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai?"

"The big ass glass thing on the tiny island?" Melinda asked, cocking an eyebrow, causing Maria to roll her eyes "Anyway, if this building had been remodeled, the layout wouldn't show the old structure, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well back then, building usually had these sort of bunkers, like a basement," Melinda said.

Maria nodded for a seconds before continuing her thought "You think there's an old bunker that no one knows about,"

Melinda smirked then looked down at the ground "Right under our noses,"

Maria looked down at the ground before catching Melinda's eye and matching her smirk "Let's find it,"

* * *

"Your dad's that Criminology professor, right?" Callie asked, gesturing to Skye "That's why you look so familiar,"

Skye rolled her eyes "Aren't you the sharpest tool in the shed," she replied sarcastically.

Callie grinned at her "I like you," she replied then sighed "It's a shame I'm gonna have to kill you,"

Suddenly, the door opened, and there were footsteps coming down the stairs, catching their attention. Skye craned her neck to see, then turned back to Callie, only to find she wasn't there. When she turned back to the stairs, she saw five people come down in a line, the front runner being awfully familiar. Melinda had her gun raised in front of her, a look in her eye that could kill. Scanning the room, and no sign of Callie, Melinda called out "Clear," to the rest of the agents before lowering her gun, and holstering it.

Skye leaned closer to Jemma who did the same so she could whisper "That was totally hot," making Jemma chuckle and they sat up straight again. Only Skye could find something this terrifying a turn-on. Something she loved about her.

Melinda turned back to the other agents and nodded "Radio Trip and Hunter, I got this," she nodded, before they all nodded back and turned around and left. Melinda made her way over to the girls and knelt down "You girls okay? are you hurt anywhere?" she asked before she tried to do anything.

"Nah, we're good," Skye replied casually, like she hadn't just been held hostage or anything.

As Melinda reached around the back, to untie Skye, she suddenly fell forward and grabbed the pole for stability before rolling out to her right and pouncing back to her feet. There Callie stood, with a metal pole, charging at Melinda. Skye thought she'd draw her gun, but she left it holstered and ducked the swing with such grace it was almost impossible.

As Callie swung again, Melinda ducked and grabbed the baton, spinning around and pulling it from the girls grasp before jumping and giving her a swift roundhouse kick to the side of the face, knocking her to the ground, unconscious.

Skye and Jemma both wore dumbfounded expressions on their faces as Melinda looked up to the ceiling "Where the hell did she come from?" she muttered and walked to the back of the room, to see a small dugout that looked like it used to be occupied by a fridge "Damn," she mumbled and made her way back over to the girls, whose faces hadn't changed. Melinda didn't acknowledge the expressions and just untied them both, helping them up one at a time before sticking a finger in her ear and saying "I found our suspect,"

 _"Is she currently unconscious?"_ she heard Maria reply.

Melinda paused for a moment before replying "Maybe."

She could almost hear Maria's eye roll from there and couldn't help but smirk as she heard Maria come back down and look at the unconscious girl before glaring at Melinda with a sigh "Really?"

Melinda raised her hands in defense "Hey, she attacked me,"

Maria rolled her eyes again, making Melinda smirk, and made her way over to Callie on the floor, handcuffing her and rolling her back before picking her up "I blame you for this," she glared again and made her way up the stairs "Call a medic!" Maria yelled to one of the officers and Skye chose that moment to laugh as they followed close behind.

"You sound awfully chipper for someone who'd just been held hostage," Melinda smirked at her as they made their way up the stairs.

"Eh," Skye shrugged, walking towards the set of cars that clearly belonged to the FBI "It wasn't so bad,"

"Yeah, only because she liked you," Jemma replied "She's never liked me,"

"Awh, Jem," Skye said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her in to her side "I like you, and that should be enough,"

Jemma rolled her eyes and elbowed her side before wrapping an arm around her waist "Well, you're not the worst person to be held hostage with," she said.

Skye let out a bark of laughter "How sweet of you," she replied sarcastically.

Melinda walked a few steps behind them and smiled at the two before they tried veering to the left "Woah, hey!" she called after them, making them turn "Where do you think you're going?"

"Well, my car's just around the corner and-"

"No," Melinda shook her head, cutting Jemma off mid-sentence before opening the door to her Camaro "I'll get an officer to drive it back for you,"

"Oh, come on," Skye protested.

"I promised your dad that I'd get you back safe," Melinda replied "And driving after being kidnapped is not safe, trust me,"

Skye rolled her eyes "We weren't kidnapped,"

"Get in," Melinda replied, quirking an eyebrow, daring her to argue.

"Fine," Skye replied "But only because it's a cool car," she replied before sliding in the backseat, Jemma following suit.

Melinda smirked and shook her head before closing the door and walking around to the driver's side, catching a glimpse of Maria's smirk from the SUV she'd put the unconscious girl in.

* * *

Phil waited anxiously, his knee bouncing up and down as he sat in the same chair. It'd been an hour and thirteen minutes, and heard nothing.

"Dad!" he heard from behind him, and he snapped his head up, spinning around so fast he might've fallen over.

"Oh, thank God!" he cried and made his way over to his daughter, who was coming out of the elevator with Jemma, Melinda and a couple of other agents. Crushing her in a hug, the two wrapped their arms around each other "I love you so much, don't ever do that again," he whispered in her ear before pulling back and looking in her eyes "What the hell were you thinking?"

Skye rolled her eyes "Dad, it's no big deal-"

"No big deal?" Phil asked, his eyebrows raising "No big de-" he cut himself off before pulling her back into a hug.

Melinda went back to her desk, letting them have their moment, whilst Jemma stood awkwardly looking down. Then she felt a hand tug her in and two arms enclose around her. As she was pulled into the hug, Jemma realized she'd been pulled into both of them, as they stood in the middle of the bullpen. Phil had one arm wrapped around each girl's shoulders as they hugged back, holding onto each other too. Before pulling away, Phil kissed both of them on the top of their heads and sighed in relief.

"I'll be right back," he told them and made his way over to Melinda, who had been typing on her computer at lightning speed "Thank you," he said, making her look up at him with a smile.

"Just doing my job," she replied with a nod. She thought he was about to walk away, but instead he sat down on the chair next to her desk.

"No, seriously," he said and glanced back at the two girls who seemed to be cackling over something or rather "I don't know what I'd do if..." he trailed off and looked back at her "Thank you,"

"Anytime,"

Phil smiled before standing up and started to turn away when he turned back, last second, making her look up at him again questioningly "That offer," he started "The one that allowed me to call you even if it's not case-related...does that still stand?"

Melinda gave him a small smile before nodding "Yeah, it still stands,"

* * *

"I'm telling you, Dad," Skye said as they walked through the door of their apartment "It was totally badass!"

Phil raised his eyebrows at his daughter with a smirk before he closed the door. They'd dropped Jemma off at her dorm, she'd wanted to see Fitz. Which was understandable, considering what'd just happened, and being with another family was almost depressing. Jemma didn't have any family in the States, but neither did Fitz, so they found that being together was less depressing, Skye knew that.

"She totally round-housed her in the face!" he cried "If you didn't have a crush on her, I'd say it was hot!"

Phil paused and opened his mouth a few time before finally saying "I got nothing,"

Skye smirked as they made their way for the couch, falling back onto it, exhausted "Speaking of which, did you ask her out yet?"

Rolling his eyes, he replied "No," and seeing her about to protest, he stopped her "But I'm gonna call her,"

"Oh yeah? When?"

"I don't know," Phil replied "Maybe tomorrow," Then it was Skye's turn to roll her eyes as she pulled out his phone from his sweatshirt pocket "What're you doing?" he asked.

"You're calling her. Now," she said and grabbed the business card off the coffee table in front of them.

"What? No, I can't call her now," Phil protested.

"No, you won't. Trust me," she said and dialed the number for him, handing him the phone "What-I-What do I say?" he asked as he hears the ringing.

"Just talk to her," Skye replied as she stood up, about to walk away, but making sure he doesn't chicken out before she does.

"I just don-"

_"May,"_

"Melinda," he greets "It's Phil,"

Skye smiles and walks away, she didn't necessarily need to be there for this - even though she wanted to be.

_"Ah, Phil, what do I owe this pleasure?"_

He smiles at her response and he leans back on the couch "Well, funny you should ask," he replied feeling a little more relaxed at her voice "I was wondering if you'd want to, maybe, go to dinner with me," There's just silence on the other end and he starts to panic "Melinda?"

_"I was waiting for a question."_

"That was the question,"

_"Really? I though you were just telling me what you were wondering about,"_

He holds back laughter, but smiles anyway "Okay, fair enough." he replied "Melinda, would you like to go on a date with me?"

_"Sure,"_

Her reply is easy and his smile grows "Great," he replies just as easily "Friday? I'll pick you up at 7?"

_"Perfect,"_

"I'll see you then,"

_"See you then,"_

And with that, they both hang up. He's grinning like an idiot and wondering if she is too. She's probably not, she's so much smoother than she is. But he hopes that she gets the flutter in her stomach, the way he does in his.


	6. Nerves and Best Friends

"So, what's the deal with you and Coulson?" Maria asked as they sat in a booth across from each other in the bar across the street.

Melinda looked up at her and narrowed her eyes "What do you mean?"

Maria quirked an eyebrow at her "You call him Phil, he runs to you when his daughter's missing, I didn't even know you two had met..." she says "And he calls you Melinda,"

"A lot of people call me Melinda," she responded.

"No they don't," Maria replied, shaking her head once.

Melinda huffed, rolling her eyes "We'd met before, that night actually,"

"That night? Were you two...?"

"What? No," Melinda frowned at her friend "We'd just wrapped up the Quinn trial and I needed a drink," she started "I went down to that bar on Lexington and Ninth - The Fridge - and we met at the bar," she shrugged "Then I got the call about Donnie and had to take off to meet you,"

Maria raised her eyebrows "You told him you were a fed when you met him?"

"No," Melinda said, somewhat exasperated "All I knew was his name was Phil and that he'd been dragged out by friends, that's when I left." she explained "I had no idea I was gonna run into him again at the university, I didn't even know he worked there,"

Maria nodded as she listened to the story "So, what now?" Melinda raised an eyebrow at her, asking her to laborate "Well, are you gonna see each other again?"

"Again?"

"You know what I mean," Maria rolled her eyes.

Melinda shrugged slightly "Maybe?"

"Maybe?"

"Friday,"

"A date?"

"I don't know," she lied.

"Well did he say it was a date?"

"Yes,"

"But you don't know if it's a date?"

"I lied,"

"I know," Maria replied with a smirk, only to have Melinda roll her eyes and lean back in the booth "So?"

"So what?"

Maria leaned forward, her elbows on the table "So...you don't date," she said "Like, ever,"

"I do so,"

"Oh, yeah?" Maria quirked an eyebrow "When was the last time you dated someone?" Melinda opened her mouth, then closed it again "See?"

"Look, I don't know..." Melinda sighed "Phil's...different,"

"Different how?"

Melinda shrugged "He smart, funny...caring," she started "And he's not intimidated,"

"Well, that's a bonus," Maria snorted, swigging the beer in front of her "Do you like him?"

Melinda paused for a moment, wondering whether to answer honestly or not "Yes."

* * *

Friday came around quicker than Phil had anticipated, and now he was getting nervous. The rest of the week had been pretty low-key, most of the university had still been dealing with Donnie's death, and Phil had set an extension for his class. And now, he was getting ready for his date, so nervous that he could hardy tie his own tie.

"Why is she avoiding me?" Skye asked as she paced his bedroom, phone in hand.

Phil sighed "She's not avoiding you, Princess," he said "Maybe she just needs time to herself, just to deal with everything,"

"No, Dad, she's avoiding me, I can feel it," she said, looking at him in the mirror before resuming her pacing "I just don't know why,"

Phil stopped playing with his tie before turning and standing in front of her, grabbing her shoulders "Everyone deals with these things differently," he assured her "Try calling her tomorrow, okay?"

Skye blew out a breath and nodded before looking at his tie and rolling her eyes "You don't need that," she said, unthreading it from his collar and turning him to look in the mirror as she stood beside him. He was wearing a charcoal dress shirt, black dress pants and a black belt with a silver sliding buckle "Not bad for an old guy," Skye smirked at him.

"Hey, watch it," he replied, giving her a warning look in the reflection, only to watch her grin back at him.

"You nervous?" she asked.

"Yep,"

"Good,"

"Good?" he raised his eyebrows at her.

Skye nodded "That's good, you're nervous, it means you care,"

"Of course I care," he replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, it's your first date in two years," she said, clapping a hand over his shoulder "So it's understandable,"

"It hasn't been two years since-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," she replied "But she's the first woman you're really interested in, and you like her and I think you wanna make this work," she said "So make this work,"

Phil nodded before looking at his watch and turning to kiss his daughter's forehead "I gotta go," he said and started to walk towards the door "I should be back by ten,"

Skye nodded with a smirk as she followed him "You know, I can stay here by myself if you don't come home," she said "Or if you two wanna come back here I can stay at Jem-"

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there young lady," he said "I will be back by ten, if I'm running later, I'll text you,"

"I'm just saying, she's hot and I'm not gonna stop you from-"

"Skye." he stopped her "It's the first date, and I actually like this woman so, like I said, I'll be back by ten,"

"Fine," she replied with a sigh before smiling "Have fun,"

Phil smiled back at her "I'll see you later," and walked out the door.

* * *

"I can't believe you convinced me to let you stay," Melinda mumbled as she pulled at the bottom of her dress. It was royal blue, fitted, and was single shoulder whilst her hair fell in loose curls.

"Because I'm your best friend," Maria replied as she sipped on the wine in her hand and scanned her friend up and down "You look hot,"

Melinda rolled her eyes and took the glass from her hand, finishing it off before giving it back to her "Do you think I'm overdressed?"

Maria shook her head and grabbed some silver heels out of the walk-in robe and passing them to her to slip on "Perfect," she smiled "You look so good in that dress he'll wanna rip it off you,"

"Oh my God," she mumbled with a roll of her eyes, earning a smirk in return.

She could tell Maria was about to see something else, except she was stopped by a buzz at her intercom "Alright, I gotta go," she said, turning to her friend "Set the alarm on the way out," Maria nodded and followed her out to the living room.

"Have fun," Maria told her as she watched Melinda walk out, leaving her in her best friends apartment. After a few moments, she grabbed the bottle of wine and sat in front of the couch, turning on the TV and grabbing the phone to order take-out. There was no way she was leaving until she heard everything.

* * *

A few minutes after he'd pressed the intercom, he found Melinda walking through the lobby of her apartment building, and had to stop himself from staring at her.

"Hi," she greeted with a smile as she stepped outside.

"Hey," he smiled and directed her to his car, earning a whistle.

"Nice car," she smiled.

"Melinda, meet Lola," he introduced.

"Lola?" she raised an eyebrow at him, clearly amused.

"It's a long story," he replied before opening the passenger door for her before she slid in and he raced around to the other side.

"So, Captain America, where we going?" Melinda asked as he started the engine.

Phil blushed slightly at the name, remembering the t-shirt he had no intention of letting her see, before replying "Well, that's for me to know and for you to find out," he smiled at her.

Letting out a low laugh, she turned back to the road in front "Okay, fair enough,"

"So Seth Dormer came back to the university today," Phil said, glancing at her.

"Yeah, we found him holed up in his grandfather's house," Melinda replied "Let him know that he was safe,"

"Oh, good," Phil nodded with a smile "You look beautiful, by the way, I can't believe I haven't said that already, I should've said it the moment I saw you - I mean, it's not like you don't look beautiful all the time because I've thought that every time I've seen you but you look incredible and I definitely should've said that-"

"Phil," she cut off his rambling with a smile and a chuckle, making him whip his head around to look at her with slightly widened eyes "Thank you,"

"Anytime,"

* * *

"So how's Skye doing?" Melinda asked as they finished off their meals. They sat in a French restaurant, it was elegent and it had fairy lights that lit the ceiling. They sat upstairs, on the second floor next to the window, allowing them to look out at the city lights. The conversation flowed well between them, talking about everything from work to world events.

Phil nodded with a small smile on her face "She's good, better than I thought she'd be, to be honest,"

Melinda smiled at him "She's strong," she replied "And Jemma?"

"I don't really know," Phil frowned "I haven't seen her much this week," he explained "She comes to class and leaves, she doesn't come over, she doesn't ask me about Skye, she just kind of exists, and I don't really know what to do,"

Nodding, Melinda replied "Everyone deals with loss in their own way, she'll come 'round,"

"That's what I keep telling Skye, but she's worried she did something wrong," Phil said, shaking his head slightly.

"How long have they been a couple?" Melinda asked, making Phil snort "What?"

Chuckling, he shook his head again "Nothing," he said in amusement "It's just that they're not a couple, and they should be, but they're both too stubborn to see it,"

Melinda smiled at that "And you'd approve?"

"Of course," Phil replied without hesitation "Skye's been through a lot, and I love her and accept her no matter what, that's the deal,"

"That's more than I can say for a lot of parents out there," Melinda replied before pausing, hesitating, which didn't go unnoticed by the man across from her.

"What is it?" he asked, frowning slightly in concern.

"I don't wanna overstep any boundaries, but..." Melinda said cautioulsy "What about Skye's mother? Is she in the picture at all?"

Phil shook his head "Skye's an orphan," he replied. Melinda's lips parted slightly as she listened "She'd been through so many foster homes when she was a kid, she'd been dropped off at the orphanage when she was a baby...I think the longest she'd been in a home was a month,"

Melinda listened as he continued "I met her when I was getting coffee one day on my way to work," he said, a small smile of fondness growing on his face as he spoke "She was standing outside, and I'd noticed that she was running into a lot of people, it seemed odd to me, so I stopped, and I watched her. The more I watched, the more I realized what she was actually doing,"

"Pick-pocketing," Melinda smirked slightly, earning a nod in return.

"She was good, I'll give her that," Phil smiled, laughing slightly "So I bought her a hot chocolate...I didn't say anything about it, just told her my name was Phil, I gave her the drink and went on my way to work," he said "And then I did it again the next day, and the next, and the next, until it was like a daily ritual," he smiled at the memory "The whole time we never mentioned the pick-pocketing thing, and one day she started walking with me to work," he explained "And we started talking, then that was our ritual,"

Melinda smiled as he told his story "Then I found out that she lived in St Agnes Orphanage, we talked about the different homes she'd been in, the other kids at the orphanage and what it was like...until one day she didn't show up..." he explained "I panicked, thought something had happened, especially when she didn't turn up the next day either...so I went there,"

"To the orphanage?" Melinda asked, her eyebrows raising, but a soft smile rested on her face.

Phil nodded "Yeah," he replied "When I got there, I made a decision,"

"You took her in," Melinda caught on, her smile still there.

"It was the only thing I could do to help," he shrugged slightly "She was a little skeptical at first, considering all the foster homes she'd been sent back from, but eventually she relaxed and we started to feel like a normal family,"

"How old was she?"

"Twelve," he said "And I legally adopted her six months later, just after her 13th birthday, and just after she started calling me 'Dad'," he explained, an idiotic grin on his face, causing her to smile even wider.

"You're a good person, you know that?" she said to him, her smile turning affectionate.

Phil looked over at her, unsure "You think?"

Melinda chuckled at him, instinctively reaching over to lay a hand over his "Yes, I do," she started to pull her hand away from his when he suddenly laced his fingers through hers.

"Thank you," he replied quietly.

"Skye's a good kid," she said just as quietly "You don't have to worry about her so much," she assured him "You should've seen the way she brushed it off when I asked her if she was okay," she said, then chuckled slightly "She was still tied to the pole,"

Phil smiled at her, until he wasn't just looking at her, he was just watching her. Watching the way her eyes lit up when she smiled, or the way she used her free hand to gesture, or tuck her hair behind her ear. He listened to how much she loved how rewarding her job was, and how much she cared for others. And by the time they'd left the restaurant, he knew he'd be late getting home, and he knew Skye would give him shit for it.

* * *

As he walked her up to her front door, she glanced up at him , a small smile on her face "You didn't have to walk me up, you know,"

"I know," he said "But as your date I am required to take you home afterwards, and the lobby is not 'home'," he responded easily until they stopped at her apartment.

"Thank you for tonight," she said quietly, brown orbs meeting blue "I had a really great time,"

"Yeah, me too," he said, his gaze intensifying as he stepped closer slightly. He was close enough to lean in, but far enough away that she could step away if she wanted. However, judging by the look in her eyes, she wasn't going to do that.

They stood there for a moment, just looking into each other's eyes before Phil glanced down at her red lips for a second longer than intended and looked back up to her eyes. As he did, he saw her quickly glance down to his own mouth, but quickly looked up again. Her eyes moved so fast he wondered if he'd imagined it. That was until he felt her lips on his, and he'd realized that he'd waited so long that she'd been the one to initiate the kiss.

It was gentle and soft and she smelled of a mildly sweet perfume that made him want to breathe her in deeper. He'd brought his hands to her hips gently as he traced his tongue along her bottom lip, asking for entrance, which she quickly granted, opening her mouth. Exploring each others mouths, Melinda stepped closer so their bodies were pressed together and wrapped her arms around the back of his neck, feeling him snake his arms around her waist, pulling her impossibly flush against him.

They stood like that for as long as possible, making-out in the hallway like teenagers until they finally pulled away for air.

"Wow..."

"Yeah..."

Before pulling back, Phil gave her another chaste kiss before stepping away, walking backwards slowly towards the elevator "Bye," he said quietly, another idiotic grin on his face before he reluctantly turned around.

"Bye," she replied to no one, considering he wasn't there anymore, before she put the key in the lock and opened it, walking into her apartment. When she walked in, she realized that the alarm hadn't been set, which meant that Maria was still there. Turning the corner into the living room, confirmed her suspicions.

"So?" she asked as Melinda fell down on the couch next to her.

Melinda shook her head then scoffed "I'm fucked,"

"Judging by the non-existent lipstick, I'm guessing that's what would've happened if you'd kept going," Maria smirked at her, earning a weak punch in the arm "It wasn't bad, was it?"

"No," Melinda grumbled "Just the opposite,"

"Wow," Maria replied "You _are_ fucked, aren't you?"


	7. Captain America and Go-Karting

_"Hello, you've reached Jemma..."_ Skye sighed as she heard the British voicemail once again. Something wasn't right, and Skye knew that physically, Jemma was fine, but she was avoiding her like the plague and she had no idea why.

The beep sounded and Skye sighed again as she sat down on her bed "Jemma, it's me...again." she started "Just...I'm sorry...for anything I've done to upset you or hurt you. Please call me, the silence is killing me and I can't handle much more of this," and with that, she hung up.

"Are you okay?" she heard from the doorway, but she didn't need to look up to know who it was, so she didn't.

"No," Skye shook her head, staring down at the phone in her hand, like she was waiting for it to ring "She hates me," she whispered.

Phil felt a pang in his stomach and his heart break inside his chest "Oh, Princess," he made his way over to the bed and sat down next to her, pulling her into his side "She doesn't hate you,"

"Yes she does," Skye said, her voice broken "They all do eventually,"

"No, that's not true," Phil tried to assure his daughter "Jemma loves you, and so does Fitz...and so did Donnie, okay?"

"Then why is she ignoring me?" Skye cried, looking up at him, a tear rolling down her left cheek "Why is she doing this?"

Phil sighed "I don't know, sweetheart, I really don't," he whispered, kissing her temple.

Skye wiped her face then shook her head, like she was shaking off what just happened, before turning to her father "Anyway, enough about that, how'd it go?" she smiled.

Phil nodded "Good," he tried to hide the smile creeping onto his face.

"Considering you're failing at hiding that smile, I'd say it a was a good night," she smirked "But judging from the lipstick all around your mouth, I'd even say it was a _really_ good night, amirite or amirite?"

Phil rolled his eyes at her, but couldn't help the blush that crept up his neck and over his ears as he recalled the last events of the evening, wiping the lipstick from around his mouth.

"So what happened?" she asked, beaming.

"We went to this French Restaurant on 52nd Street," Phil said.

"Oh the two story one!" Skye said, recognising the location.

Phil nodded "Yeah, we just talked the whole time,"

"What'd you talk about?" Skye asked, lifting to bring her knees to her chest.

"Oh, you know, work, family...you," he said.

"Me?"

Nodding again, he wrapped an arm around his daughters shoulders "Yeah, she was worried about you, wanted to know how you were doing," Skye smiled as she leaned into his shoulder "She likes you," she heard him say as he kissed the top of her head.

"She hardly knows me," Skye replied, but she was still smiling.

Phil shrugged "She thinks you're strong, and smart, and she was impressed by the whole pick-pocketing thing,"

Skye frowned, sitting up to look at him "You told her about that?"

"Yeah," he replied, then frowned "Is that okay?"

Skye thought about it for a moment before nodding "Yeah, that's okay," then leaned back into his shoulder "If it's any consellation...I like her too,"

* * *

She knocked on the door, hard. She was impatient and she needed answers. Jemma had been avoiding her for the whole week, and now that it was Saturday again, Skye knew that she'd be in her dorm, sleeping. She'd gotten up extra early, just to make sure she didn't miss her.

She knocked on the door again and waited "Come on, Jemma, open the door," she called out.

When the door opened, she found someone else opening the door "Can I help you?" she asked. Skye didn't know who she was, but she was pretty and she was guessing smart, and Skye was jealous.

"Yeah, where's Jemma?" Skye asked, taking in the girl's appearance. She was in Jemma's pajamas, Skye recognized them, because she'd worn them before, her hair was practically a mess, but she somehow looked good, and that little fact seemed to piss Skye off more.

"She's still sleeping," the girl replied "She was so tired last night that she just fell asleep on me as soon as we got into bed, poor thing," Skye resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her "Did you want me tell her you came by?"

Skye was about to barge in there herself, but then she realized something which made her stop. Jemma had fallen asleep on another girl, wearing her pajamas, in her dorm, in her bed "Uh, no, never mind," and before the girl could get in another word, she turned around and left, feeling like the world under her feet had just fallen.

* * *

Melinda shielded her eyes from the light as she opened her eyes, feeling a weight on her as she tried to sit up on the couch. Looking over, she realized that she must've fallen asleep with Maria on the couch when they were talking, because her best friend currently lay atop of her, sprawled out. The position didn't look comfortable, but any position was comfortable or Maria.

Melinda snorted, think of about a hundred dirty jokes inside her head. Managing to slide out from under her, Melinda stood up, making sure Maria didn't fall on the floor as she did so, before she made her way to the kitchen to make herself a tea. Knowing she couldn't function without it, she put a pot of coffee on for Maria when she woke up.

Melinda looked down at the sweats and t-shirt he was wearing. The shirt was navy blue with yellow writing on the back that read 'FBI CADET' with the bureau logo on the left chest. It was a little short for her now, showing about an inch of her stomach, and the sleeves were tighter than they used to be around her muscles, but it was still comfortable and it was still her favorite.

She looked over at her phone on the bench and picked it up to check it, seeing a text from Phil and opened it to read it.

_'Thank you for last night, I had fun. I'll call you, maybe we could do it again :) - Cap'_

She couldn't help but smile at the name, remembering that she called him that the night before, and watching as his neck went a shade of red. She was definitely going to file his little crush away for later.

"What's with the dopey-ass grin?" she heard as Maria came padding into the kitchen, automatically going or the freshly brewed coffee that Melinda had put on for her.

"Nothing," she replied with a shake of the head. Best not to share the information, best to savor it "You hungry?" Maria nodded as she took a sip of her coffee "You want pancakes?"

Maria stopped the mug half-way to her mouth and looked at her friend "What's the occasion?"

"What do you mean?"

"You never make pancakes," Maria replied, before grinning "Oh my God, you're happy!"

"Shut up,"

"No seriously, I've never seen you like this. Smiling at your phone, offering me pancakes, not being able to wipe that stupid grin off your face..."

"Fine, no pancakes," Melinda threw her hands up in the air and started to walk out of the kitchen.

"No, wait!" Maria put the mug down and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back "I'm sorry," she said, but she was smiling "I'm happy for you, really,"

Melinda gave her friend a small smile as Maria pulled her in for a hug "Thank you,"

She heard Maria hum in response and she paused just standing like that for a moment, before Maria spoke up "We still having pancakes?"

Melinda rolled her eyes and pulled away "Fine, but you're helping me clean up,"

Maria beamed back at her "Of course,"

* * *

"Maybe they were just sleepin'," Fitz said as they both sat on his bed, their backs against the wall.

Skye shrugged "Maybe," she replied. Fitz had found her wondering the halls of the university, looking lost, and had pulled her back to his dorm, stopping for coffee on the way "Well, I'm happy for her, I'm sure this chick makes her happy," that was a lie.

"I doubt it," Fitz replied, his Scottish accent thick.

Skye sighed before taking a sip of her Chai Latte. It was the only thing sweet enough for her to drink that wasn't hot chocolate "Then I hope she's happy," that wasn't a lie. She really did hope that Jemma was happy, it just tore her that she couldn't be happy with Skye. The thought terrified her, but she couldn't deny it any longer, not after this week.

Looking at her watch, Skye sighed again "Alright, I should go," she said and got off the bed "I'll see you later, yeah?"

Fitz nodded "Do you want me to tell Jemma you came by?"

"No, it's okay," Skye replied "I'll talk to you later," she said before opening the door "Bye, Fitz,"

"See ya," he replied before she gave him one last smile and close the door behind her, walking down the corridor and back down to her blue Corolla. She and Phil had gone halves in paying for it, so she'd still be able to afford to run it. When they were together, Jemma usually drove, but Skye loved her car, almost as much as her father loved his.

When she got back home, she found her dad already dressed in jeans and a navy blue casual button up shirt "Ah, good, you're home," She raised an eyebrow at him as she threw her keys into the bowl by the door "We're gonna do something today, just the two of us,"

"Like?"

"I was thinking we could go have lunch at Central Park, and then we could go go-karting," he said, a smile on his face.

Skye smiled back at him "Really?"

"Really," he replied with a nod "So, you ready to go?"

Skye looked down at herself. She was wearing khaki colored skinny jeans and a white v-neck t shirt which was covered by a black three-quarter sleeve dress blazer black wedged heels "Yeah, I'm good,"

"Alright," he smiled and reached for his jacket on the back of the couch "Let's go,"

* * *

The day had turned out to be what they both needed. It took Skye's mind off Jemma and it got Phil quality time with Skye. They'd raced three times, Phil won once, but Skye had won twice, which she did every time.

"I remember the first time we came here," Skye smiled as they walked out of the go-karting rink "It was a Thursday, and I found it odd that I got the day off school and you'd taken the day off work," she explained "I thought you were gonna send me back,"

"I know," Phil smirked "You started freaking out as soon as we sat down to eat,"

"Yeah," Skye chuckled to herself "I felt so stupid when you handed me the adoption papers,"

Phil shrugged as they walked down the street "It was understandable," he replied "But that day, I think we really started to feel like a family," he said and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

"We did, didn't we?" Skye smiled, tucking an arm around his waist. They walked in silence for a while until Skye spoke up again "I went to see Jemma this morning,"

"I know," he replied with a smirk "You're the most impatient person I've ever met," he chuckled "So what happened?"

"She was asleep," Skye replied "Some girl answered the door,"

Phil looked down at his daughter, frowning "What girl?"

Skye shrugged, defeated "I don't know, but she'd stayed the night,"

"Hey, who knows, it could've just been innocent, a sleepover between friends," he said.

"Yeah, but even so..." Skye replied "She was having a sleepover with a college friend but I get radio silence?"

Phil sighed and kissed the top of her head "I don't know, kid," he said "College is stressful, and knowing Jemma, she'd be putting twice as much stress on herself,"

"I know, I know," Skye replied "I'm just some dumb high school kid, and she's a junior in college and is probably the smartest one there," she sighed "Maybe I'm just not worth her time anymore,"

"Hey, that's not true and you know it," he said, stopping and grabbing her shoulders to make her face him "Jemma loves you just as much as you love her, and nothing will ever break what you two have, okay?"

Skye shrugged and nodded "I guess,"

Phil pulled her in to him, wrapping his arms around her as he kissed her forehead and they kept walking down the street "Well, it looks like you need a pick-me-up, so I'm gonna tell you something and we don't mention it after today, alright?"

"Okay,"

"Melinda called me 'Captain America' last night," he said, regretting it as she paused, looked up at him, then burst out laughing "It's not that funny,"

"Wow, she's got you pegged already," she said between laughs "Just wait until she finds out about your little fanboy crush,"

Phil rolled his eyes "Hey, it's not a crush,"

"You're right, it's not a crush," she nodded "It's an obsession,"

"It's not an obsession!" Phil cried in response.

"Dad, you still have the Captain America sheet set on your bed at Grandma's," she pointed out.

"I was six!" he defended himself.

Skye rolled her eyes "You have three different sets,"

Phil grumbled, he was definitely gonna kill his mother for telling Skye that. Although, he knew there wouldn't be much that his mother wouldn't tell Skye, considering she adores her more anything. The embarrassing stories had all been told, and there were only a couple that were too inappropriate for her young ears. No doubt Skye tells her everything as well on their weekly phone calls, so his mother would know everything Skye knows about Melinda by tomorrow. But he was glad that his mother accepted her as part of the family without any hesitation. That was until he learnt that they were both as bad as each other, often conspiring against him.

"So when are you gonna see her again?" she asked, deciding to give him a break from the whole 'Captain America' thing.

Phil shrugged "I don't know," he replied "When's too soon to ask again?"

"You may wanna wait a day or two, otherwise she might think you're moving too fast," Skye recommended "But when you do, don't take her out to a restaurant, you've been there, done that,"

Phil nodded, taking in everything she was saying, yet not believing he was taking dating advice from and 18 year old "What do you recommend?"

Skye shrugged "I don't know, do something fun," she said "She's FBI, and I've seen first hand that she doesn't lack the ability to be active,"

"Okay," Phil nodded "Thanks, Princess,"

"That's Princess _Badass_ to you," she corrected him.

Phil chuckled "Right, my bad," he replied, kissing her on the temple.


	8. Ice and Kisses

Two days later Phil finally got up the courage to call Melinda. They'd shared the occasional text here and there, but no real conversation.

 _"Hey, Phil,"_ he heard her answer right away. It made him smile, knowing she usually answers with her name.

"Hey," he replied, smiling, and he was almost certain she could hear it "How you doing?"

Melinda sighed _"Well this case we just got is doing my head in, but your call is working for me right now,"_ she replied _"You?"_

He chuckled again "I'm good, just grading papers in my classroom," he replied and he could just picture her smile on the other end "I swear, half of these kids don't even listen, but when they hand up these papers I realize that this generation is really good at multitasking," he said as he leaned back in his chair and heard her laugh.

 _"How's Skye? Has she talked to Jemma yet?"_ she asked and he couldn't help but feel touched at her concern for his daughter.

"She's good," he replied "And no, now Skye's avoiding Jemma the way Jemma's been avoiding Skye," he sighed "I swear to God, if she doesn't stop moping around anytime soon I'll kidnap Jemma and bring her here myself,"

Melinda chuckled at him _"You realize what I do for a living, right?"_

Phil smiled back as students started to file in "I have to go, I have a class now, but what are you doing Saturday?"

 _"Saturday or Saturday night?"_ she asked.

"Either,"

_"Nothing, why?"_

"Because I'm taking you out again," he said.

 _"Is that right?"_ he could hear her smirk from there.

"Yep," he nodded, even though she couldn't see it "You don't need to dress up, but you will need a jacket,"

_"A jacket?"_

"Probably a coat, and maybe a scarf," he said before he saw most of his students had come in and were watching him "I'm probably about to get mocked for this phone call so I'm gonna go now, I'll call you later, have a good day,"

 _"Yeah, you too,"_ she replied quietly and they both hung up.

"Hot date, Professor?" one of his students called out, causing them to snicker.

Phil rolled his eyes as he stood up from his chair "Not one you need to know about,"

"Oh, come on, give us something!" another student called out.

"Is she hot?"

"God, you sound just like my daughter," Phil replied as he opened the laptop, connecting it to the projector.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," the first kid called out, high-fiving the guy next to him.

"You go 'fess," the other one called out.

"Yeah, yeah, settle down, I'll tell you about her if we have time before class finishes," he said "But right now, you can all get out your textbooks, turn to page 285,"

* * *

After hanging up, Melinda couldn't help but smile to herself.

"What'd he do?" Maria smirked across at her. They were sitting in the bullpen, their desks adjacent from each other meaning they could talk whilst they worked. Though, it was more like Maria making comments here and there or rambling about something whilst Melinda listened and rolled her eyes.

"Who?" Melinda feigned confusion, earning an eye roll in return.

"Phil," she replied "Did he ask you out again?"

Melinda sighed "Yes, he did, but that's not what I was..." she trailed off "He told me that he'd call me later and to 'have a good day',"

Maria's smile was full-blown "That's adorable,"

"Shut up," she replied, looking over at her computer.

"So where's he taking you?" asked Maria, turning back to the file in front of her, but there was no way she was letting this go.

Melinda shrugged, not looking back at her "Somewhere cold,"

Maria looked up at her with a raised eyebrow "It's the end of October in New York, of course it's gonna be cold,"

Shrugging again, Melinda glanced up at her friend, who was waiting for an explanation "I don't know, Maria, he just said to bring a jacket,"

"Well that doesn't help me," Maria replied "Where do you think you're going,"

"I don't know," Melinda rolled her eyes again "I think the intention what for it to be a surprise, I'm not gonna ruin it for your incessant need for information,"

"Fine," Maria replied, turning back to the file "But I want details,"

"Of course you do," she muttered under her breath.

"I heard that,"

* * *

"...and then they continued to badger me about you for the whole class," Phil complained as he fell back on his bed, smiling when he heard her laugh. He'd called her later that night to tell her about what happened in class, luckily she'd already left work and was back at her apartment. She'd informed him that she was watching a Shonda Rhimes season finale so the inevitable death of a favorite character could wait.

 _"So what'd you tell them?"_ she asked.

Phil sighed "Well their questions consisted of knowing whether you were hot and smart, so eventually I had to tell them the truth and agree with them," he replied and heard her laugh again.

 _"You didn't,"_ she laughed at him.

"I did," he nodded .

 _"What, so now they're expecting some hot blonde science professor? That's not fair,"_ she replied, but he could tell she was joking by the tone in her voice.

Phil smiled "Well, when they asked me about you those descriptions did come to mind,"

Melinda snorted in return _"So are you gonna tell me anything about this date? Like what we're doing or where we're going?"_

Phil contemplated it for a moment before replying simply "No," with a small shake of his head.

 _"Come on,"_ Melinda groaned _"What if I wear the wrong thing?"_

"That'd be impossible," he replied "And besides, what's the point of a surprise if you spoil it?"

 _"Okay,"_ she replied _"But, just a heads up, Maria's gonna want details, in fact she literally told me that,"_

"She and Skye should meet," Phil snorted.

 _"Yeah, I don't think Maria and Skye would be a good mix,"_ Melinda replied.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Phil asked, laying on his back, bending his elbow behind his head.

 _"They're both so alike, it's ridiculous,_ " Melinda explained _"And the worst part is that they'd get along so well, and Maria's not exactly the best influence,"_

Phil chuckled "I'm sure they'd be fine," he replied then suddenly his bedroom door crashed open.

"So she's got new friends now?" Skye paced his bedroom as she started to ramble "I'm not good enough for her anymore? I knew it! I knew she was too good for me, she's always been too good for me and now she's finally realizing it..." Skye continued to ramble as she paced his bedroom, not even noticing he was on the phone.

 _"It sounds like you've got some comforting to do,"_ Melinda said, and he could hear the amusement in her voice.

"This is gonna be a long night," he sighed "I'll talk to you soon," he said as he shook his head at his daughter, who was still ranting and pacing "Goodnight, Melinda,"

 _"Night Phil,"_ she replied and they both hung up.

Sighing, he sat up properly and listened to his daughter rant.

* * *

"So, Captain, where are we going?" she asked as he grabbed her hand, leading her down the street. It was midday and the sun was shining, but it was still cold. Going off the little information he gave her, she wore tight fitted dark navy denim jeans and a purple silk button down blouse that had black leather cuffs and collar. She had a khaki green parka on that had artificial fur that lined the hood, not zipped up.

"You can ask as many times as you want, but I'm not gonna tell you," he replied, leaning in and stealing a soft kiss.

"Fine," she mumbled against his lips before she pulled away and seeing they were walking down the sidewalk and not getting in his Corvette "Where's Lola?"

"She wasn't needed," he replied, intertwining their fingers "But don't worry, it's only a short walk,"

Melinda nodded before giving him a small smile "So how'd last night go?"

Phil sighed and rolled his eyes "Jemma refuses to talk to Skye and vice versa," he explained then turned his body to face her but kept walking "I'm going insane,"

Melinda chuckled at him before shaking her head "You'll be fine, they'll be fine, they're teenagers,"

"But they've never been like this," Phil replied "I just wish there was something I could do for them except for being on the receiving end of a rant,"

Melinda give him a sympathetic smile before leaning up slightly to kiss his cheek "You're a great dad, you're doing fine so far," she said "But coming from someone who used to be a teenage girl, just let them figure it out for themselves," He looked across at her and gave her a soft smile "What?" she asked.

Suddenly he stopped them in the middle of the sidewalk and pulled her in to press his lips to hers. Pulling her closer, he rested his hand on her hip whilst the other stayed intertwined with hers, her other hand coming to cup the back of his neck. They stood there in the street for a moment before they both pulled back "What was that for?" she asked, a smile playing at her lips.

"For being amazing," he replied "...and for caring. You're the first person in a while to do that,"

"A while?"

"Two years," he replied "So thank you,"

"Of course," she smiled back at him, moving her hand from the back of his neck to brush his cheekbone with her knuckles "So where are we going?"

"Buttering me up, aye?" he replied and pulled her along the street so he was walking backwards and he was holding both of her hands, until she leaped and caught up to him "Doesn't matter, I'm not tell you," he whispered in her ear.

"Rude," she replied.

"We're almost there," he said with a smile as she mock glared back at him. They walked for a couple more minutes before he stopped and they turned to look across the street "Here we are," he said.

"Ice skating?" she asked, her eyes questioning, but her face was smiling.

He smiled across at her "You said that you used to love skating on the frozen ponds back home, and that you haven't been in a while." he said "I know it's not a frozen pond and I know it's not home, but I thought you'd enjoy it,"

"I..." she looked back and forth between the ice skating rink and Phil and his smile started to fade.

"You hate it," he said.

"What?" she asked, whipping head around to face "What? No! I just can't believe you remembered,"

Phil shrugged "Well, it's hard not to listen when you talk," he replied, looking away from her "It doesn't matter, we can do something else, it was probably a stup-"

He cut him off when she pulled her fingers from his and grabbed both sides of his face, pulling him in for an intense kiss. It was long and full of passion and he wrapped his arms around her waist, letting out a moan when she nibbled on his bottom lip before pulling away.

She rested her forehead against his as they stood trying to catch their breath "Thank you," she said quietly pecking his lips once more "I love it,"

"Let's go," he smiled and gave her one last peck before he dragged her across the street.

* * *

Melinda was a much better skater than Phil was, and she practically skating circles around him the whole time as he struggled to stay upright. Why she loved walking on boots with blades on the bottom of them was beyond him, but hearing her laugh and seeing her infectious smile was all he needed to keep going.

"How's it going there Cap?" she asked him as she circled around in front of him, skating backwards, somehow knowing when to turn. She had a smile on her face and her hands were behind her back as she glided elegantly along the ice.

"I think it's safe to say you're a better skater than me," he said, almost falling but her hand shot out to keep him upright. She was strong, so she could hold him up.

Melinda let out a chuckle "Ya think?" she asked sarcastically, then skated closer, so she was up against his chest, his skates moving with hers as she guided them around the rink "Thank you for this," she said as she looked into his eyes.

"Anytime," he replied giving her a smile.

They skated for a while longer until Phil physically couldn't stand up anymore, and even Melinda couldn't hold him up "How you doin?" she asked as they sat down to take the skates off.

"I feel like my feet are gonna fall off," he replied, untying the laces on the skates.

"Have you never gone skating before?" she asked as she took her skates off easily.

Phil nodded "Of course," he replied "Although, I was four and I sucked,"

Melinda chuckled at him before shaking her head "I've never skated with anyone else before," she said "I always liked skating in solitude, it was just me and the ice," she explained then turned to him with a soft smile on her face "But now that I was surrounded by people who don't know their feet from their asses..." she said referring to the fact that pretty much everyone was falling down around them "I'm glad it was you,"

Phil leaned across and gave her a soft, chaste kiss "Then thank you for allowing me to share it with you," he smiled at her "You hungry?"

"Absolutely," she replied as she watched him struggle to get the second skate off, chuckling as he pulled it off haphazardly and chucking it on the ground before pulling on his shoes. She stood up and held out a hand to him, which he gladly took as she pulled him up with seemingly little effort and he was chest to chest with her, she gave him a smile that made his heart flutter "Come on, let's get some food,"

* * *

When they'd reached her apartment, he once again walked her to her door "You don't have to do that every time, you know,"

"And like I said the last time, the lobby isn't 'home'," he replied as he stepped closer to her, causing her to wrap her arms around his neck and play with his hair.

"I know that," she rolled her eyes at him be she was still smiling "But you don't have to make the trip every time,"

"True," he said, pulling her closer "But if I dropped you off that the lobby, then I wouldn't be able to do this..." he lent down and pressed his lips to hers, gently at first, but she'd kissed back with force, causing them to speed up the kiss. She licked his bottom lip until he opened his mouth darting his tongue against hers as she rose up and pulled him closer. His hand trailed from her back, to her waist and up under her blouse, feeling the skin of her back as his hands roamed around and she arched into him.

When they finally pulled away to catch their breath, he withdrew his hands from her skin and rested one on her hip and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with the other "On second thought, I think I prefer you to walk me to my door,"

He let out a husky laugh "Yeah, me too," he replied kissing her one last time before they pulled away from each other "I'll call you later," he said.

"Okay," she replied and she started to fiddle with her keys as he started to walk away "Hey, Phil," she called after him making him turn back around to face her "The surprise..." she started "It was well worth the wait,"

Phil beamed back at her "Good, I'm glad," he said and waved slightly before turning back around and walking to the elevator and Melinda unlocked her apartment.


	9. Meetings and Intentions

They sat in a coffee shop, Melinda ordered tea, Phil ordered coffee. It'd been six weeks since their ice skating date and their dates had become more frequent. Melinda had been pulled away a couple of times for work but so far everything had been going well.

"Do you wanna meet her?" Phil asked as they sat in the booth by the window.

Melinda looked up at him, tilting her head to the side slightly, frowning "Who?"

"Skye," he said, making her sit up straight, squaring her shoulders "I mean, really meet her,"

"I just-I mean-What if..." she trailed off, sighing frustrated at herself.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, I just thought-"

"No, Phil, I want to," she said, reaching across the table and laced their fingers together "Really, I do,"

"Then what is it?" Phil asked.

"I'm not..." she trailed off, looking for the right words "I'm not a very likable person," she explained "And I don't wanna ruin anything, between you and Skye or between us,"

"Hey, nothing's gonna change between us," Phil frowned, tightening his hold on her hand "And believe me, you are a _very_ likable person," Melinda smiled slightly at him as she looked down at the table "Besides, Skye already thinks you're a badass, she thought the roundhouse you delivered to Callie Hannigan was the best thing she'd seen in her life,"

"But that's that...self defense, tai chi, martial arts...that's what I know," she said "And I stick to the things I know, I don't know how to be..."

Phil furrowed his eyebrows "What?"

"Normal," she said quietly not meeting his eyes and suddenly found the outside world extremely fascinating.

"Normal's overrated," Phil stated simply making her look back at him "And I, for one, think that you're way more than self defense and martial arts," he smiled at her "But if you need more time, I can tell Skye 'no',"

"Woah, wait," she held a hand up "She wants this?" she asked.

Phil nodded "Yeah she's been badgering me about it for the past week," he said "Since Jemma hasn't been around I think she just needs something else to focus on,"

Melinda let a out a deep breath and nodded "Okay,"

"Okay...you'll do it?" he asked, hope written all over his face.

"Yeah, I'll do it," she replied with a small smile of her own.

He lent across the table and pressed his lips to hers "Thank you," he murmured as she brought her hand up to cup his jaw.

As he pulled away, she gave a bigger smile, then looked almost sympathetic "Seriously? Still nothing from Jemma?"

Phil sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face "Skye's going crazy, she doesn't know what to do, and I think she's heartbroken," he said sadly "And there's nothing I can do,"

Melinda reached across the table grabbing his hands with one of hers and using her other hand to brush his cheekbone with her knuckles "It'll be okay,"

"Thank you for doing this," he said, savoring the feeling of her hand against his face "I think she needs it,"

"I'm sorry for freaking out," she said, still stroking his cheek as they looked at each other "I'm just-"

"I know," he smiled at her and turning his head to kiss her hand. She brushed his cheek one last time before dropping it to the others on the table, silently thanking him for not pushing her.

* * *

She was nervous, to say the least. It wasn't like she'd never met Skye before, but this was a 'getting-to-know-you' dinner, and Melinda was definitely not prepared.

 _"I don't know what you're so worried about,"_ Maria said over the phone as Melinda held it with her shoulder, trying to find the right outfit for tonight.

"Yeah, you're not helping," she replied as she pulled up her jeans, doing up the button and fly.

 _"Just pretend that you're talking to me,"_ Maria suggested.

"That's the problem," Melinda grumbled back "I actually want her to like me,"

Maria snorted on the other end _"Alright, what are you wearing?"_ she asked.

"Uh, right now? Jeans and a bra," she said, looking at the black lace in the mirror.

 _"Well, I'm gonna suggest you at least put a shirt on, that might score you some brownie points,"_ Maria replied sarcastically, and Melinda rolled her eyes with a smirk _"What top are you wearing?"_

Melinda groaned "I don't know, pretty much everything I own is black," she said, walking into her robe.

 _"You have colors,"_ Maria said _"What about the red one?"_

"The sleeveless one that crosses over at the front?" Melinda asked, taking it off the rail.

_"Yeah,"_

"Alright, hang on," she said and quickly put the phone down to slide the top over her head before picking the phone back up again "Okay, yeah thanks,"

_"You okay?"_

Melinda sighed, dropping down to sit on the end of her bed "I don't know, what if I fuck this up?"

_"What makes you think you will?"_

"You mean apart from the fact that I do with everything else?" Melinda replied.

_"Hey, it seems to be going great so far, doesn't it?"_

Melinda sighed, she knew Maria was right, but that did very little to calm her nerves "Alright, I gotta go, I'll call you later,"

_"Okay, good luck,"_

"Thanks,"

* * *

"What if she doesn't like me?" Skye asked her dad as she paced her room, Phil sitting on her bed.

"She'll love you," Phil replied "I'm pretty sure she already does,"

Skye scoffed "Yeah, well that's what I thought about Jemma, and look how well that turned out,"

Phil sighed quietly "I don't know what happened with Jemma, Princess, but I do know that Melinda likes you, and will love you," he assured her "I actually had to give her the same pep talk,"

"You did?" Skye asked as she stopped pacing "She was nervous?"

Phil let out a laugh "Yes, she was, more nervous that you, I think,"

"But she's all badass and kickass," Skye replied.

Phil stood up slowly "Yes, she is a badass and she can be kickass," he said and started to make his way over to her, not looking at her as he thought "but she's also smart, and funny and caring and has a knack for putting everyone else before herself,"

Skye watched her father look off into the distance with a small smile on his face, making her smirk at how screwed he was "You really like her, don't you, Dad?"

Phil looked at his daughter and gave her a smile "Yeah, Princess, I do,"

Skye took two steps before wrapping her arms around him "I'll try not to screw this up," she whispered.

"Hey," he said, pulling back to look at her "You could never screw this up, okay?"

Skye paused before she nodded "Okay," and she pulled away to look at herself in the wall mirror "How do I look?"

"Beautiful," he said, kissing her temple, she chose jeans and a peplum top instead of a dress, hoping it was the right decision.

"Thanks, Pop," she replied before they were interrupted by a knock at the door.

"I got it," he said as he started to walk out.

"I'm sure you do," she smirked as he left the room.

"I heard that!" he called from outside her bedroom before he made his way down the stairs and to the front door, opening it to find Melinda standing there with a bottle of wine "Hey," he breathed and he couldn't help but stare at her. Her jeans were tight and her top was low, her hair up in a high ponytail, revealing her neck.

As she caught him staring, her face fell "Oh, God, what?" she asked, her eyes widening in panic "This is gonna be a disaster isn't it, I knew I should-" he cut her off by crashing his lips down onto hers, holding her face between his hands as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"You look incredible," he breathed after he pulled away.

She sighed in relief before replying "You don't look too bad yourself, Cap," she winked only for him to plant a chaste kiss on her lips.

"Come on," he said and took the wine bottle from her, then taking her hand and leading her into the apartment "She's upstairs," he said before leaning in to whisper "She's just as nervous as you are," he assured her before kissing her again.

"Thank you," she whispered "I needed that," and pecked him on the lips one last time before they heard footsteps come down the stairs.

"Hey Melinda," she smiled as she jumped the bottom step, almost like a child.

"Skye," she smiled in greeting, turning to face her.

"Wow, you look hot," Skye grinned at her, earning a chuckle and a blush from Melinda, and a warning look from Phil.

"Thank you," she replied "You look beautiful,"

Skye beamed at the compliment before Phil excused himself to check on dinner, leaving the two girls alone. There was a silence that set over them until Melinda spoke up "Oh, I have something for you," she said, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a USB, passing it over.

"What is it?" Skye asked, taking the small silver flash drive from her.

"Callie Hannigan had set up cameras in the bunker," she explained, only to receive a quizzical look "It's footage of me round-housing her in the face,"

Skye's eyes widened slightly before she laughed "No way,"

"Your dad says you're a fan," Melinda smiled at her excitement.

"Are you kidding?" Skye asked as she led them to the table "You absolutely destroyed her!" she exclaimed "At first, I didn't know why you didn't use your gun but then I realized that you didn't have to," They both sat down at the table and Skye started to ask questions "So what exactly do you do in the FBI?"

Melinda thought about how to say it before she replied "Well...the CID basically handles all major crimes cases,"

"Like murder," Skye said and Phil brought out a glass of wine for Melinda and a soda for Skye.

She thanked him with a smile before she turned back to Skye "Yeah, like murder, but we also handle cases that involve organized crime, fraud, violent crime, we're basically the go-to people for investigatory work,"

"That's totally awesome," she replied "So why'd you join?"

"What do you mean?" Melinda asked, taking a sip of the red wine in front of her.

"Well there's always a reason, right? The guns, the babes, the dedication to the greater good..." Skye said, trailing off.

Melinda contemplated it for a moment before saying "You know, I don't know," Melinda shook her head "I mean obviously it's cool and it's an awesome title, but...I think the main reason I got in was to make a difference,"

"Good guy, huh?" Skye smiled slightly at her, tilting her head to the side.

Melinda shrugged one shoulder "Well, that and I get to kick ass,"

"Hell yeah you do," Skye smirked and held up her soda, clinking glasses with Melinda as Phil walked back in.

"What are we talking about?" he asked.

"The miracle of birth," Melinda replied automatically, making Skye snort her soda and start choking "You okay?" she looked concerned but couldn't help but chuckle as the girl threw her the perfection sign, trying to get her breathing under control.

Phil looked at Melinda, catching her eyes and smiled, shaking his head.

As the food was served, they started talking about everything from school to work to each other. Melinda was currently telling a story about her first arrest as an agent.

"I'm not kidding, I wish I was, seriously," Melinda said "Because tackling a naked guy on the roof of a 10 story building is not fun," she said as Phil and Skye cackled in laughter "But that wasn't even the worst part, the worst part was that I tackled him so hard that we rolled off the side of the building,"

Skye gasped, her eyes wide "No."

"Yes," Melinda nodded "So there I was, hanging off the side of this ten story building, a naked guy trying to climb my legs like a monkey so he didn't fall,"

"How old were you?" Phil asked, his eyes watering from laughing.

Melinda thought back "24," she replied "Straight out of the academy, it was my third day,"

"Wow," Skye shook her head "That's horrible,"

Melinda let out a low laugh "Trust me, the story's better than the reality,"

"I bet," Phil snorted.

"So how's school?" Melinda asked her as they continued eating.

Skye shrugged "I currently have six assignment due in about a week, I haven't heard from my best friend in eight weeks and some weird guy keeps hitting on me,"

Phil and Melinda glanced at each other, sharing a look before turning back to Skye "What weird guy?" Phil asked.

Skye sighed "Just some guy on the football team, total loser,"

"Have you told him to stop?" Phil asked, frowning.

Skye nodded "Yeah, but like I said, he's on the football team, and he won't stop until he gets what he wants," she rolled her eyes "Like that's gonna happen," then perked up and looked at Melinda "Hey, maybe you could teach me something to get him off my back?"

Melinda didn't even dare look at Phil before she replied "You know, violence isn't always the answer,"

Skye rolled her eyes again "Yes, I know that," she replied "But just in case he ever tries anything...forceful,"

Melinda sighed before looking at Phil, looking for a sign as to what to respond with. Unfortunately, Phil just shrugged, smirking slightly, so she turned back to the hopeful teenager "Okay,"

"Really?" Skye asked, excitement in her eyes.

"Sure," she replied with a smile "But remember what I said,"

"Violence isn't always the answer," Skye repeated back to her, making her smirk. When Skye's phone rang, she scrambled to the other side of the living room as fast as she could, looking at the caller I.D. before her face fell. Phil and Melinda watched with broken hearts as they saw Skye shatter inside.

"I'm guessing it wasn't her," Phil said quietly as he forced himself to look away from the teenager across the apartment. Skye threw her phone onto the couch before running upstairs to her room "You see?" Phil said sadly "Nothing I can do,"

Melinda grabbed his hand and kissed his knuckles before she stood up "Where are you going?" he asked as he grabbed her hand.

"You said there was nothing you could do," she said, looking down at him "Maybe there's something I can,"

He looked up at her softly before lifting her palm to his lips, kissing it gently "Thank you,"

She smiled back at him before bending down and kissing his lips, grazing his cheek with her knuckles like she always did "I'll be back," she said, grazing his cheek once more before she went upstairs.

* * *

"You okay?" she found her on her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest. Skye looked away from her, not wanting her to see the tears that were about to fall. Melinda crept towards the bed slowly and sat down tentatively on the edge.

"I'm fine," she replied, but it was only a whisper, and it was broken. Melinda didn't say anything, she just sat there until Skye looked at her. A few minutes passed until Skye met her gaze "I just don't know what I'd do without her," she cried as the tears started to fall down her cheeks. Melinda reached out and grabbed her hand holding it tight until Skye fell forward into her, her face buried in her chest. Knowing there was nothing she could say to make it better, Melinda just wrapped her arms around the girls back, holding her close.

They stayed like that until Skye's sobs had subsided and her breathing had slowed "I love her," she whispered. It was more of an admission than a statement, but Melinda just stroked her hair until Skye sat up straight, wiping the tears furiously from her eyes "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to totally just break down on you like that,"

Melinda gave her hand a squeeze "It's okay," she smiled in return "Everyone needs to break sometimes,"

"Even you?" Skye asked, making Melinda freeze in place "I'm so sor-"

"It was last year," she said, cutting her off "A case went bad," she explained "And I got captured," Skye's eyes widened as she continued "They were the longest three days of my life," Skye didn't need to know what happened, and frankly she didn't want to know what happened. Melinda continued "Maria helped me though it, especially when I got PTSD,"

"You got PTSD?"

Melinda nodded "Yeah," she whispered "I was jumpy, had random outbursts, I was borderline paranoid," she explained "But like I said, Maria helped me through it, made me got to a therapist, she even made up special training courses that would help me stabilize my movements,"

"How long had you two been friends?" Skye asked.

"Since the academy," she smiled softly at the memory "We couldn't have been more different," she explained "I was quieter, but she was outgoing - a party-goer,"

"Like me and Jemma," Skye said quietly.

"Like you and Jemma." Melinda nodded "And no matter how many times I tried to push her away, she just wouldn't let go, and I owe her so much for that," Skye smiled at that "My point is, the friendship you and Jemma have is special, and just because she's pushing you away, it doesn't mean you should let her,"

Skye looked up at her before smiling slightly and nodding, wrapping her arms around the woman. Melinda had never been one that comforted, but in this case, she didn't hesitate to hold the girl close to her.


	10. Heartbreak and Sex Jokes

Her knock was tentative, and Skye had no idea what was behind the door, but she wasn't giving up anytime soon. As she door swung open, she saw Jemma's face drop.

"Skye," she breathed out, not expecting her.

"Hey Jemma," she replied with a small smile "Can I come in?"

Jemma hesitated before moving to the side and letting her in her dorm. Skye walked past and stood in the middle of the room "What can I do for you, Skye?" she asked politely, folding her arms over her chest almost protectively.

"I don't know what I've done, I don't know what's freaked you," Skye started "I don't know, maybe this is you dealing with Donnie and what happened with Callie, but there's nothing in this world that you could say or do to let you push me away," she explained and stepped closer "Jemma, you're my best friend, I love you and-"

"Don't say that," Jemma said quietly, avoiding her gaze.

"What?" Skye asked, confused "It's true, and I don't care if I have to tell you that everyday until you believe it," Skye said, her voice raising slightly "I love you Jemma, and I'm going to be here for you no matter what, because that's what best friends do, that's what family does,"

"Skye..."

"I will come here every day if that's what it takes," Skye said, and seeing Jemma looking at the floor she whispered "Jemma please look at me,"

Jemma shook her head slightly and finally lifted her gaze, tears brimming her eyes "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, maybe tell me what this is all about," Skye replied, her voice cracking as she continued "Because the last time I saw you we were fine,"

"I can't tell you, Skye," Jemma whispered "You'll hate me,"

"Jemma, I could never hate you," Skye said walking towards her, only to stop when Jemm took a step back from her, redirecting her gaze again "Jemma, please..." she whispered, her eyes filling with tears and her voice weak "Don't do this,"

As a teardrop hit the floor, Jemma finally looked back at her "I have to,"

"Jemma, please, I can't lose you..." Skye sobbed, tears streaking her face in tracks "I love you,"

"Don't say that!" Jemma yelled back at her, covering her mouth with her hand as if it wuld stop the sobs that were trying to escape. As she managed to calm her sobs, Jemma straightened her shoulders and looked at Skye's crying frame "This is what's best for both of us, and you'll just have to take my word for it,"

Skye shook her head "No, Jemma, you don't get to decide what's best for me, or what's best for us, you don't-" she cut herself short "I love you Jemma and I'm not giving up, just remember that," and with that, Skye ran past her and out the door, slamming it shut on her way out.

As soon as the door slammed shut, Jemma lost control of herself and fell to her knees, her face in her hands, trying to muffle the sobs that she had no hope of stopping.

* * *

Coming home, Skye found Phil and Melinda on the couch. They were sitting side by side, Melinda leaning into Phil's chest as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, just watching TV. Hearing the door slam caught their attention, but Skye's tear-streaked face caused alarm.

"Skye, what happened?" Phil asked as both adults sat up, ready to jump up if need be.

Skye looked at them both and tried to speak "She...she's-I don't-she..." but before anything could come out, she broke down into sobs.

Phil got up and held his daughter close, his own eyes burning as he did so. Melinda couldn't help but watch from the couch, her heart breaking. When Skye's sobs subsided, she pulled away from Phil and looked over at Melinda "I did it, I told her that I wasn't going to let her push me away," she said and Melinda stood up, her eyes widened and her eyebrows furrowed "I told her and she said that..." Skye swallowed the lump in her throat before she continued "She said that this was best for both of us," she cried, on the verge of breaking down again.

"Oh, honey," Melinda looked at her sympathetically as she rubbed her arm.

"But I can't let her push me away, like you said, I'm not gonna let her push me away," Skye shook her head before breaking down again, wrapping her arms around the woman in front of her "What do I do?" she sobbed.

Melinda felt her eyes stinging and looked up at the ceiling, not letting them fall "I don't know, sweetie," she whispered as she rubbed circles on her back and stroked her hair "I don't know,"

Phil watched the two girls and couldn't help but let a tear fall. He'd wanted them to bond, but this wasn't what he had in mind.

* * *

"You need to tell her," Fitz soothed Jemma as she lay on his bed, her head in his lap as he sat sideways, his back against the wall.

Jemma shook her head "I can't," she cried "She'll never speak to me again,"

"That's not true," he frowned as he was stroking her hair "Skye loves you, and you can't push her away,"

"I have to," Jemma sniffed "This is what's best for all of us,"

"All of us?" Fitz asked "Because we can never be friends, just the three of us. And then I'll have to pick sides, and this isn't fair on me either Jemma,"

Jemma sat up and faced him "I'm sorry," she cried before kissing his temple and pulling him in for a hug "But I'd rather she hate me for this,"

Fitz wrapped his arms around her "It'll be okay," he soothed "Everythin' will be okay,"

* * *

Melinda had just come down from Skye's room where the girl had fallen asleep and joined Phil on the couch.

"How is she?" Phil asked, earning a sigh in return "I don't know what to do," he said leaning forward on his elbows. Melinda leaned back and sagged into the couch as she brought a hand up to rub circles on his back.

"She's strong," Melinda reminded him "She'll get through this,"

"When?" Phil asked, looking back over his shoulder at her "Because I don't know how much more of this I can take," he said shaking his head, causing her to sit up alongside him and play with the hair at his nape "My little girl is in pain and..." he trailed off and she rubbed her knuckles against his cheekbone. She watched as he closed his eyes, leaning into her tough, relishing the feeling, knowing that it calmed him down. She bent her head down and kissed his shoulder before resting her head on it "Thank you for being here," he whispered as he finally opened her eyes to look at her.

She lifted her head from his shoulder but didn't stop stroking his cheekbone "Of course," she whispered back and he leaned in for a lingering chaste kiss.

* * *

When Skye woke up, she had a headache. _That's what you get when you cry yourself to sleep,_ she thought.

As she padded downstairs, she found the two adults asleep on the couch, curled up facing one another. The sight made Skye smile slightly, but the pang in her chest made her realize that that was another thing she was missing out on with Jemma. She watched as her father tightened his arm around the woman, drawing her in closer as she clung to hie shirt.

Finally tearing her eyes away from the couple, she went searching for her phone. Checking the kitchen, and the living room before making her way upstairs to her bedroom, she couldn't find it anywhere. Who knows, maybe the adults were sleeping on it. So, finding a blanket, she draped it over them and made her way to the kitchen to find some aspirin before there was a knock at the door.

Skye frowned slightly and made her way to the door, opening it without looking in the peephole. Her breath caught in her throat as she saw her British best friend standing there, just as disheveled as she was "Jemma," Skye breathed out.

"You left this in my dorm this morning," Jemma said, holding out her phone "It was by the door, it must've fallen out of your pocket when you left,"

When I ran, she thought.

Taking the phone from her hand, she looked at her "Thank you," she said quietly.

"No problem," Jemma replied "I know how much you need it,"

"Not as much as I need you," Skye whispered, looking down at the phone in her hand. before looking back up at the British girl "Would you come in for a sec?" she asked "There's something I need to give you too,"

Jemma hesitated before she stepped in and Skye closed the door behind her before disappearing up the stairs. Jemma walked further into the apartment before she saw the two figures on the couch, sleeping, and smiled slightly.

As Skye came back down the stairs, Jemma looked over to see her holding a navy blue sweater "You forgot it the last time you were here," Skye said quietly as she passed it over.

Jemma took it tentatively from her before she smiled "Thank you," before turning around and heading for the door.

"Wait-" Skye grabbed her wrist and spun her back around "Jemma, what's going on?"

Jemma looked at her hopelessly "I'd rather you hate me for leaving than for the truth,"

Skye frowned "Jemma, that would never happen, I promise you that,"

Jemma scoffed and shook her head "The thing is you say that, and then I tell you and it's all over,"

"Look, Jemma, I love you-"

"Don't say that," Jemma sighed.

"Why not?" Skye asked her, letting go of her wrist "Give me one good reason,"

"Because it hurts," Jemma replied through gritted teeth, looking her dead in the eye "Every time you say it, I realize what I can't have, what I can never have,"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Skye asked, confused.

Jemma shook her head and looked down at her hands "I can't even be around you anymore," she whispered "It hurts too much," and then she looked up at her "I love you and it hurts, because I knew that if I ever told you that you'd hate me for it,"

"I love you," Skye said.

"Don't say that," Jemma shook her head "It's not the same,"

"I love you," Skye said more forcefully.

"No, Skye, you can't say-"

"Jemma," Skye cut her off by grabbing both of her wrists tightly and pulling her in as she stepped closer "I love you, and it _is_ the same thing,"

Jemma just stared at her and Skye stared right back. They stood like that, not moving, for what felt like an eternity before Skye let go of Jemma's wrists and grabbed the sides of her face, pulling her in and crashing their lips together. Jemma stood frozen for a moment, her eyes widening, before they finally closed and she sunk into the kiss, wrapping her arms around her waist.

As they deepened the kiss, Skye moved her hands from Jemma's face to around her neck and pulled her closer against her body. Their tongues exploring until they heard a loud thud, followed by a muffled 'son of a bitch' making them pull apart and turn to see Melinda on the floor. As she sat up, she rubbed the side of her head, where it'd hit the floor. The noise had made Phil stir as he opened his eyes slowly, seeing Melinda on the floor and Skye standing with Jemma, making him sit up.

"What the hell's going on?" he asked and looked at Jemma. Seeing he was about to say something to the girl, Melinda jumped in.

"Phil," she said, getting his attention as she stood up, pulling him up with her "We have to go upstairs for a moment," she said and pushed him towards the stairs from behind, turning and winking at both the girl in the process, earning a grateful smile from Skye as they disappeared up the stairs.

Turning back to Jemma "Look, Jemma," she started and put her hands on the British girl's hips "I love you, and I'm in this for the long haul," she said stepping closer "So don't ever push me away like that again," she said leaning in for a short, sweet kiss "It was pure torture,"

* * *

Upstairs, five minutes had been spent explaining to Phil what had happened as they stood in the middle of his bedroom.

"Wait, how do you know all this, we were asleep," Phil asked, looking confused.

Melinda smirked at him as she pulled on his belt loops, pulling him closer "No, you were asleep," she replied as he held onto her hips "And you were adorable,"

Phil smiled down at her before leaning in and placing his lips on hers, gently at first, then more forceful as he felt her move her hands from the belt loop of his jeans, around to his back and up to his shoulder blades, digging her nails in through his shirt.

He moved his hands from her waist and glided them up under her t shirt and all over her abdomen, earning a low moan as he traced under the wire of her bra.

Their little bubble was burst when Skye's voice yelled up the stairs "Dad, we're going out, we'll be back later,"

They'd pulled apart to listen to her and Phil smirked slightly "Okay, stay safe,"

"Yeah," he heard Skye snort loudly "You too," and then the door closed.

Phil looked down at Melinda who was wearing a smirk on her face "Did she just make a sex joke?" he asked her.

Melinda chuckled "Yep," and crashed her lips against his, pressing flush against him. His hands were back under her shirt and roaming over the cups of her bra, making he moan in his mouth.

He pulled the shirt up over her head and froze as he stared at her bare skin for the first time. His eyes were wide and his breathing shallow as he reached out tentatively to touch the perfect skin "Holy shit," he breathed and glided his hands over her bra-clad chest. He looked up at her face so see her biting her lower lip in worry "You are so beautiful," he breathed and pulled her in for a kiss, her hands immediately going for his t shirt, pulling it over his head before falling on top of him on his bed, straddling his waist as she played with the zipper of her jeans.

The whole time that they undress, their mouths never separated and their bodies always pressed against each other. This was definitely a night they were both going to remember.


	11. Thanksgiving and Boyfriend-Talks

"Maria wants to meet you, and so does Trip," Melinda said as they lay wrapped around each other in his bed, naked. One arm was tucked behind his head whilst the other was wrapped under her neck as she used it as a pillow and he traced the scars on her shoulder blades and back. She hadn't told him what happened, but she would when she was ready, and that was good enough for him.

"Who's Trip?" Phil asked "Oh is that the guy with the goatee-beard thing and the huge muscles?" Melinda chuckled at his description.

"Yeah, that's him," Melinda replied, her chin resting on her hands that were on his chest so she could look up at him.

"Should I be worried that you'd leave me for him?" Phil joked, earning a punch in the arm as he chuckled "Ow, that hurt!"

"You deserved it," said Melinda, leaning up to kiss him before she rested her head in its previous position.

Phil wrapped his free arm around her body to start tracing patterns on her bare back "Do you want me to meet them?"

"Well you've already met them," Melinda shrugged "But this will be grilling, we've always done it,"

"We?"

"Yeah, the team," she explained "Whenever one of us starts to get serious, the others jump in and...vet them,"

"So this is like a boyfriend-talk?" asked Phil "Like a 'what are your intentions?' kind of thing?" He felt Melinda stiffen next to him as he mentioned the 'b' word "I know we haven't talked bout what...this...is yet, but is it?"

"Is it what?" Melinda replied.

"Serious?" Phil asked "Because I'd like to think it is,"

Melinda smiled at him "Yeah, Phil, it's serious,"

"So I can tell people that we're serious?" Phil asked as he sat up, bringing her up with him.

Melinda chuckled at him "If you want," she replied.

"Well in that case..." he said, sitting up straighter and grabbing her hands "Melinda May, will you be my girlfriend?"

Melinda smiled before leaning forward, attaching their lips together and pushed him back onto the bed, straddling his waist "Yes, I will be your girlfriend," she mumbled against his lips, then felt him smile against hers.

"Good, because that could've been really awkward," he replied, rolling them over.

* * *

"Did you really think I'd hate you?" Skye asked Jemma as they sat on her bed, their backs against the wall. As Jemma looked over at her, she saw that Skye looked hurt at the insinuation.

Jemma shrugged "I couldn't let you look at me with...disgust,"

Skye sighed and brushed the hair out of Jemma's face "I could never look at you with disgust," she said and leaned in to kiss her "Or hate," another kiss "Or anything but love," another kiss. The last kiss Jemma ad pulled Skye towards her and deepened it as she tangled her fingers through her hair.

They leaned back onto the bed so Skye was propped up on her side, her leg coming up to wrap around Jemma's. The British girl's hand trailed up under Skye's shirt, over her back and torso before Skye ripped it off, throwing it on the floor.

As Jemma lifted her body up to take her own shirt off, Skye's hands went straight to Jemmas hips, trailing them up and down her sides before roaming over her back and stomach "Wait," she paused, looking at Jemma who was looking back at her in question "Are you sure?"

Jemma nodded and pulled her back down to crash their lips together "I love you," she said "That's all the confirmation you need,"

* * *

"What are we doing for Thanksgiving?" Skye asked as they sat at the table in Melinda's apartment.

"When's Thanksgiving?" asked Melinda as she looked up from her plate.

"Next Thursday," Phil said quirking an eyebrow at her "You don't know when Thanksgiving is?"

"We don't celebrate," Melinda shrugged "We go out as a team and get piss drunk until we forget that this country was founded on slaughter and slavery,"

"Well that's just depressing," Skye remarked.

"You seriously don't celebrate Thanksgiving?" asked Phil.

"Neither do I," Jemma piped up.

"Yeah but you're British, you don't count," Skye said.

Melinda shrugged again "Well, Maria and I rarely go home, Hunter's English, and Trip...well, Trip's the only one who goes home to his Aunt's to celebrate,"

"Why don't you all come over for dinner?" Phil asked.

Melinda shook her head "I can't ask you to do that,"

"You're not asking, I'm offering," Phil pointed out "And besides, aren't we supposed to be having the boyfriend-talk with them anyway?"

"Exactly," Melinda replied "And if you invite them over for Thanksgiving, it'll ruin your holiday because they're fiercely protective,"

"Perfect," Phil smiled and lent over to peck her lips.

Skye rolled her eyes before saying "Seriously? We're eating, I'd rather not throw it up,"

"Then lucky you weren't home last night," Phil muttered, though he knew Skye heard it by the retching sounds that came out of her mouth, followed by a punch in the arm by Melinda and Jemma blushing profusely "So, what do you say?" Phil asked Melinda "Thanksgiving at mine? Maybe it'll make you forget that this country was built on slaughter and slavery," he said, quoting her.

Melinda sighed before replying "Okay, but don't say I didn't warn you," she pointed out before looking at the two teenagers "And you two are not to listen to a word Maria says, or Hunter for that matter,"

Phil smirked at Melinda as Skye smiled, almost mischievously back at her.

* * *

Thursday came around quickly after that night, and Melinda was already at Phil's when everyone arrived.

As she looked through the peephole and saw Maria she quickly turned to the two girls "Remember what I said," before turning back to open the door "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Maria grinned, a Melinda knew this night wasn't going to end well. Melinda gave her a look that told her to behave or else, only to receive another grin in return "Ah, Skye and Jemma," she greeted "It's good to see you not all handcuffed to a pole in a basement,"

Skye snorted in return "Yeah, you and me both,"

Melinda rolled her eyes, knowing the two would bond easily and it would end in disaster, before giving Phil a look to which he just smirked back. When Trip and Hunter rocked up, they were already sitting down at the table, waiting for the food to finish cooking, and Maria was in the middle of telling the girls a story - Melinda in denial the whole time - leaving Phil to answer the door.

"Uh, no I didn't, you're making that up," Melinda protested as Maria rolled her eyes, the girls laughing.

"You so did!" Maria defended her story "You were so drunk, you wouldn't remember it anyway,"

"Are we talking about that time she tried to steal a horse from a local LEO who was on patrol in Times Square?" Trip asked as all three men walked in to join them.

"Oh my God!" Melinda cried "I didn't do it!"

Trip snorted "Girl, please, you were so far off your face you actually tried to sneak it into a night club,"

Skye and Jemma were laughing so hard that they were clutching their stomachs "I did no such thing," Melinda shook her head.

"I still have the photos you took on my phone of you and the horse because you thought I ate yours," Maria said as she started to pull her phone out of her back pocket.

"Okay!" Melinda cried, putting her hand out to stop her "I get it, I was drunk,"

Skye managed to stop cackling long enough to say "Wait, I thought you said you weren't a party-goer?"

Melinda glared at Maria as she replied "I'm not," she said "But somebody suggested a few drinks to celebrate graduation,"

"I never mentioned stealing a horse," Maria defended herself "That's all on you,"

Melinda rolled her eyes at her friend before Phil asked "So did you all go to the academy together?"

"Not me, Mate," Hunter piped up "Didn't go to their Federal Hogwarts,"

"We'd worked together on a case that involved...international contacts," Melinda explained.

"Like the CIA?" Skye asked, her voice low and a lopsided grin on her face.

Hunter smirked "I can nor confirm nor deny,"

"Bitch please," Maria said rolling her eyes "He was MI6, we'd worked together, so when Hand was given this task force we recommended him, she approved, no passport needed,"

"MI6?" Jemma asked, a small smile on her face "That's brilliant,"

Hunter smiled back at her "I'd like to think so,"

"Yeah we know," Melinda muttered under her breath, though judging from Maria's failed attempt to cover her laugh, she knew they'd heard her.

"So, Professor, what's it like to teach?" Trip asked him, changing the subject.

Phil smiled slightly before replying "Good, it's fun working college students, I have good ones,"

"You teach criminology, yeah?" Hunter asked earning a nod in return.

"I reckon I'd like to teach one day," Maria said, earning a snort from all three of her team members "What?"

"You wouldn't last a day," Melinda said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"You'd be bored out of your mind," Trip said.

"Not to mention the fact that you hate paperwork," said Hunter "...and kids,"

"Hey, I don't hate kids!" Maria defended "Elementary kids maybe, but they start to grow up in high school,"

Then it was Skye's turn to snort "Yeah, right," she said "Let me know what universe that happens in and I'll go there,"

"That kid still bothering you?" Melinda asked her, earning a look from Skye "Right, football team,"

"Well maybe I could give him a warning..." Skye said, looking at Melinda.

"Skye, violence-"

"Isn't always the answer, I know," she said "But I just think that if I can show him that he shouldn't mess with me, he'll back off, isn't there a non-violent move you can teach me?" she asked, hopeful "Just to freak him out a little?"

Melinda looked at her and sighed under her breath "Okay, okay, but promise me you'll never initiate violence,"

Skye huffed "I promise," she said "But you'll teach me?"

"Yes, I'll teach you," Melinda replied.

Skye smiled and squealed before wrapping her arms around Melinda's neck "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said before pulling back "This is gonna be so awesome," she said and turned back to the smirking agents "So what was it like? The academy, I mean,"

"Those were the days," Maria said "Bending the rules, kicking ass in self-defense class, pulling pranks..."

"You pulled pranks?" Skye asked Melinda who shook her head "Oh, please," she scoffed and turned to Maria who just nodded, earning a glare from Melinda "Seriously? Like what?"

"Well, there was the time when we put confetti in our instructor's air vent on a hot day," Maria offered.

"That was you guys?" Trip asked, sitting forward slightly "We heard that she almost choked to death because there was so much confetti she couldn't breathe,"

"Yeah, that didn't really go as planned," Melinda added, shaking her head "But it was still funny, nonetheless.

"Even though you almost killed someone?" Phil raised an eyebrow at her.

Melinda shrugged slightly "Well she wasn't our favorite instructor," she replied, causing Phil to chuckle at her.

"And there was that time we put a snake in the top drawer of Bobbi's dresser," Maria mentioned, making Melinda burst out laughing "The look on her face was priceless!"

"She almost killed us," Melinda said, still laughing and turned to everyone else "Bobbi was one of the top cadets, we weren't friends, at all," she explained "and she'd just...well I can't even remember what she'd done but we definitely wanted payback, and everyone knew she had a fear of snakes,"

"So you put on in her drawer?" Jemma asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, but it was harmless, devenomed," Maria waved off "That kind of initiated a prank war," she said, smirking "But long story short, we'd ended up very good friends,"

"Wow, I never pegged you for a prankster," Skye said to Melinda with a lopsided grin on her face.

Melinda shrugged "I was a lot different back then,"

"I'm sorry, but just last week you rigged my phone to scream in my ear instead of playing music," Hunter piped up, earning snickers from Maria and Trip.

"That's what you get for giving the press my number," Melinda replied "I was fielding calls all day because of you,"

"Then you shouldn't have hustled me when we were playing basketball," Hunter shrugged.

"Then you should've been paying closer attention," she said "That's what you're paid to do everyday, remember?"

Maria looked over at Phil who was watching Melinda with a small smile on his face, a look of adoration in his eyes. He thumb was stroking the back of her hand as she bantered with Hunter. As she turned to look at Trip, she saw he was doing the same thing she was and leaned in to whisper "See that?"

"You mean the total look of hopeless adoration?" Trip replied, a small smile creeping onto his face.

"Yeah," Maria replied, a small smile of her own tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Poor bastard," Trip replied, making Maria snort.

* * *

"See?" Phil asked as he came up behind Melinda and wrapped his arms around her waist, laying a kiss to the curve of her neck as she stood at the kitchen counter "It wasn't so bad," Everyone had gone home, and both teenagers had gone up to Skye's room, leaving them alone downstairs.

Melinda snorted as she poured another glass of wine "Maybe not for you," she remarked as she put the wine bottle back down on the kitchen counter and spun around in his arms "Me on the other hand...completely and utterly embarrassed,"

Phil chuckled as he planted a soft kiss to her lips "You have nothing to be embarrassed about," he replied pulling back "They just showed me another side to you that I haven't really seen before,"

"That part of me is long gone, Phil," she shook her head "And I don't think I can ever get it back,"

"And that's okay," he replied "Because you're perfect just the way you are," he whispered before leaning down and capturing her lips with his and pulling her closer. Their kiss deepened and she wrapped her arms around his neck, running her nails through his hair.

"Ugh, you two are nauseating,"

Pulling away, they were brought out of their trance by Skye's voice as she walked to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water and walked out again. Melinda let out a low chuckle as Phil just gave her a lopsided grin, making her shake her head as it fell to his chest.


End file.
